Makhouda D'Aubergine (or Batu Quiche)

After spending the whole day in the kitchen I must say I'm relieved to be able to sit down and type instead. It's not like a whole lot of cooking was going on. No, I was stacking away all the groceries from last nights run and decided to clean out one of my drawers. Then my kids decided to clean out my baking drawer, now that was like opening up a can of worms. But it was finally clean and the girls were very proud of themselves. Except that the counter tops had all kinds of stuff that had to be washed or trashed, that was of course left up to me!

For dinner tonight we are having an eggplant quiche. It's the kind of quiche that has everyone in the house salivating when I just mention that it's on the menu for dinner. Well worth the time it takes to make it and very forgiving.

Preparation time: 45 min. + 45 min. baking; Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ~500g	Eggplant (large)
	Salt for sprinkling
3 tbsp.	Oil
1	Onion, finely diced
1	Red bell pepper, finely diced
8	Eggs (L)
1/4 cup	Minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp.	Minced garlic
250 g	Emmental cheese
1/2 cup	Bread crumbs
1/4 tsp.	Ground rose buds
1/4 tsp.	Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp.	Salt
1/2 tsp.	Chili powder
1/4 tsp.	Coriander powder

Method:

The tough part about this recipe (and the main reason why I don't cook it more often) is the dicing. It does take a bit of time to get everything cut to the right size. Today I spent about 30 minutes just dicing the eggplant, onion and peppers! I dice everything to around 5 mm.

If you are using Asian eggplants then you should use at least 2 of them and maybe even 3. What is wonderful about this recipe is that you can have more or less eggplant and it doesn't change the taste all that much. If you have the time, once you've diced the eggplant sprinkle it with salt and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Then wash it and pat it dry. Needless to say I usually skip this step.

Instead of red bell pepper you can use other peppers. I've used green bell peppers and capsicums as substitutes and the quiche still tastes great.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the eggplant, onion and pepper and cook until they are golden brown. Stir the vegetables occasionally.

While this is cooking you can get the rest of the ingredients ready. Chop the parsley, mince the garlic and dice the cheese into 7 mm cubes. Sometimes when I cook this dish I don't have all the proper ingredients. Instead of parsley I've used coriander leaves and the cheese varies according to what is around. In Sri Lanka I use the local Gouda, in the USA Swiss. If I want to be fancy I use some Gruyere.

Then lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl and add ALL the ingredients to it. Make sure that the vegetables have cooled down a little bit before you add them. If they are too hot the egg will get cooked and the quiche will not be as tasty.

Turn the mixture into a 2-quart souffle dish or into ramekins or muffin pans and bake at 180 C in a fan oven (200 C/400 F conventional). A 2-quart souffle dish will take around 45 minutes to bake, while the smaller dishes take less time. You'll know that it's done when the top is golden brown and puffed and when you insert a knife it comes out clean. Be careful if your knife hits a melted piece of cheese it won't come out clean even if the quiche is done!

It can be served pipping hot with a fresh green salad and bread or just by itself. Wonderful to use to fill sandwiches the next day! Can also be cubed up and served with cocktail sticks as an appetizer or snack.

This recipe was adapted from "The Vegetarian Table North Africa" by Kitty Morse

And here is a Chef friendly version