SC - Badinjan Muhassa

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

In the "Best Food for War" thread, Lord Cariadoc said:
"Badinjan Muhassa is a yummy period dip."

I asked if this was in the Miscellany on line. I never heard back, 
but it could easily have gotten lost in the Trimaris turmoil. So here 
it is, from the Miscellany
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/islamic_w_veggies.html#3

If you haven't explored Lord Cariadoc's on-line Miscellany, i highly 
recommend it. I've redacted some of the recipes myself. It's so nice 
to have the original, and to see how an experienced cook does it, but 
i'm pig-headed (odd for a Muslim persona) and redact them my way.

I have a question for Lord Cariadoc: I've had some experience with 
purchased eggplant dips fermenting. Does this keep well? I do bring a 
cooler to events, but i know you usually don't. Or do you cook it on 
the spot and have it eaten almost immediately so you've no experience 
of how long it keeps?

Anahita al-shazhiyya

- -----

Badinjan Muhassa
Ibn al-Mahdi's cookbook in 10th c. collection, Charles Perry tr.

Cook eggplants until soft by baking, boiling or grilling over the 
fire, leaving them whole. When they are cool, remove the loose skin, 
drain the bitter liquor and chop the flesh fine. It should be coarser 
than a true purée. Grind walnuts fine and make into a dough with 
vinegar and salt. Form into a patty and fry on both sides until the 
taste of raw walnut is gone; the vinegar is to delay scorching of the 
nuts. Mix the cooked walnuts into the chopped eggplant and season to 
taste with vinegar and ground caraway seed, salt and pepper. Serve 
with a topping of chopped raw or fried onion.

3/4 lb eggplant
1 c walnuts
2 T vinegar (for nut dough)
1/2 t salt (for nut dough)
1/8 t each pepper and salt
1 t caraway seed
1 1/2 T vinegar (at the end)
1/4 c chopped raw onion

Simmer the eggplant 20 to 30 minutes in salted water (1/2 t salt in a 
pint of water). Let it cool. Peel it. Slice it and let the slices sit 
on a colander or a cloth for an hour or so, to let out the bitter 
juice.

Grind the walnuts, add vinegar and salt to make a dough. Make patties 
about 1/2" thick and put them on a frying pan at medium to medium 
high heat, without oil. In about half a minute, when the bottom side 
has browned a little, turn the patty over and use your pancake turner 
to squash it down to about 1/4" (the cooked side is less likely to 
stick to your implement than the uncooked side). Continue cooking, 
turning whenever the patty seems about to scorch. When you are done, 
the surface of the patty will be crisp, brown to black-and since it 
is thin, the patty is mostly surface. If the patties start giving up 
lots of walnut oil (it is obvious-they will quickly be swimming in 
the stuff) the pan is too hot; throw them out, turn down the heat and 
make some more.

Chop up the eggplant, mix in the nut patties (they will break up in 
the process), add pepper, salt, caraway (ground in a spice grinder or 
mortar and pestle), and vinegar. Top with onion. Eat by itself or on 
bread.