This chunky melitzanosalata mixes smoky grilled eggplant with feta, tomato and onion, and it scores 4.7 out of 5 from 17 ratings on Allrecipes.
Melitzanosalata, the smoky taste of the meze table
Melitzanosalata is one of the best-loved dips in Greece. In fact, Greek City Times listed it among five Greek dips in TasteAtlas’s top 50, praising its smoky depth.
Most versions are smooth, made by mashing charred eggplant with garlic, lemon and olive oil. According to TasteAtlas, cooks often add cheese, nuts, other vegetables or fresh herbs.
This recipe takes the chunky road instead. Allrecipes member constantina calls it melitzanosalata agioritiki and translates it as Athenian eggplant salad. However, agioritiki usually points to Agion Oros, the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece.
Either way, the result is a fresh, diced salad rather than a purée. It also needs no garlic and no lemon, since vinegar brings the sharpness.
Ingredients for Greek eggplant salad
This Greek eggplant salad makes about four cups, or eight serves. Allrecipes lists roughly 99 calories per serve. You will need:
- 1 large eggplant, washed
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- Salt, to taste
Leave out the feta and this Greek eggplant salad suits the fasting table, too. Greek City Times has noted that the smoky dip is a popular Lenten dish, alongside taramosalata and halva.
How to make it
Allrecipes lists 20 minutes of preparation and about 15 minutes on the grill. As a result, with an hour of chilling, allow just under two hours for this melitzanosalata.
- Heat an outdoor grill to medium-high and lightly oil the grate.
- Prick the eggplant a few times with a small knife or fork.
- Grill it, turning often, for about 15 minutes, until the skin is charred and the flesh is soft.
- Let it cool until you can handle it, then peel off and discard the skin.
- Dice the flesh and tip it into a bowl.
- Add the onion, tomato, feta, parsley, olive oil and vinegar, then mix well.
- Chill the melitzanosalata for one hour, then season with salt just before serving.
Serve it as part of a meze spread with bread, olives and tzatziki. For another way to enjoy the same vegetable, try Greek City Times’ recipe for papoutsakia, baked stuffed eggplant.
What home cooks say
Home cooks have rated this Greek eggplant salad highly. Of the 12 reviews shown with the recipe, all give it five stars.
One reviewer, veka, wrote that it tasted “just like we eat in Thassos this summer.” Another, KVarn, called it a go-to summer eggplant recipe and only added some pepper.
Several cooks made the melitzanosalata exactly as written. For instance, cldebbie called it a very refreshing dish, while pizzacake made it a second time within three days.
Imanewme also noted that the eggplant was not bitter at all. In addition, Jezebelina doubled the eggplant and tomatoes and still called the result excellent.
Others changed the mix itself. Lyn Galiote added peppers and yellow squash from the garden. By comparison, pricefamilyx6 stirred in chickpeas and left out the feta and tomato.
There is one warning, though. As sloandeasy put it, if you don’t like raw onion, this is not the dish for you.
Tips for a smoky melitzanosalata without a grill
Not everyone owns an outdoor grill, so reviewers shared other ways to cook the eggplant for this melitzanosalata.
Imanewme roasted it in the oven instead, while sloandeasy suggested wrapping it in foil first. Similarly, Deborah Ward Hill used an indoor electric grill and sliced the eggplant beforehand to speed things up.
When dochele’s grill failed, the eggplant came off half cooked. So that cook diced it and finished it in a pan with the olive oil and a little garlic. Then, while it was still hot, the rest of the ingredients went in.
Whatever the method, the aim of a good Greek eggplant salad stays the same: soft flesh and a hint of char. Also, seed the tomato as the recipe asks, so the salad does not turn watery in the fridge.
Overall, this melitzanosalata is simple, cheap and easy to scale up for a crowd. The original recipe on Allrecipes also includes four photos from home cooks.
Source: Allrecipes
The post Melitzanosalata: A Smoky Greek Eggplant Salad With Feta appeared first on Greek City Times.