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For this pickle, lightly boiled eggplants are stuffed with slivers of carrot and red bell pepper, secured with kitchen string, and submerged in a simple salt-and-vinegar brine for at least 10 days. The result is tart and zesty, with a play of textures—silky eggplant, crunchy carrot, tender pepper. It is the perfect complement to rich meat dishes.
Long Asian eggplants have fewer seeds than their round Mediterranean counterparts and will also fit more easily in a jar. Turkish cooks tend to make their pickles very sour, and this recipe follows suit. You will need kitchen string to tie the stuffed eggplants closed. — From Istanbul & Beyond by Robyn Eckhardt. Buy this book from Indiebound or Amazon.
PICKLED STUFFED EGGPLANTS is excerpted from Istanbul & Beyond © 2017 by Robyn Eckhardt. Photography © 2017 by David Hagerman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Cut 10 or 12 (2 for each eggplant) 8-inch lengths of kitchen string.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Trim the eggplants but do not remove their stems. Add the eggplants to the boiling water and boil, turning occasionally, until they feel soft but not mushy when squeezed, 8 to 10 minutes.
While the eggplants are boiling, prepare a bowl of ice water. When the eggplants are cooked, immerse them in the ice water, then drain and pat dry.
Split them lengthwise almost in half, as if preparing a baked potato for stuffing; leave about 3/4 inch uncut at each end. Use the tip of the knife to gently nudge each eggplant open and push its flesh aside to create a pouch. Push enough carrot and pepper strips into each eggplant so that some will be exposed when the eggplant is closed. With kitchen string, tie each eggplant closed in two places.
Stand the eggplants end up in a 1-quart jar. If there is a lot of room between them, wash, core, and quarter the optional red bell pepper lengthwise and shove the quarters into the jar among the eggplants to keep them upright. Add the peppercorns and the garlic clove, if using.
Stir the water, vinegar, and salt together in a medium bowl until the salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the eggplants, filling the jar to its rim. Place a small saucer or bowl over the eggplants (brine will flow out, so do this in the sink) and lower or screw the lid on to the jar.
Place the jar in a shallow bowl to catch the brine that will spill over during fermentation (this is normal) and let stand in a cool, dark place for at least 10 days. After opening, store the pickles in the refrigerator.
