Welcome to a week-long session as I compete to the Gourmet Garden cook off / blog off. For the next week, all the items I make will be made with a range of Gourmet Garden products. I hope you will enjoy them!
The farmers markets always inspire me to create awesome food. A few weeks ago, I purchased a tub of Brinjal from a local woman named Pinny. I have never experienced it before and it was mouth-watering delicious. I decided to give it a go myself. This is my first attempt at a home-made pickle, and I managed to amaze myself! This recipe is modified from Awes me Cuisine.
[ SERVES: 3 | TIME: 25 MIN | COST: <$3 ]
[ JOES' RATING: 4.5 / 5 | MY RATING: 4.5 / 5 ]
INGREDIENTS
1 kg eggplants
2 cups vinegar
1½ cups sugar
1 onion
¾ cup oil
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp gourmet garden chunky garlic
1 tbsp gourmet garden hot chilli paste
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp gourmet garden ginger paste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Method
- Wash and cut the eggplant into large bite size chunks. Dice the onion finely.
- Soak the garlic, chilli, cumin seeds, ginger, mustard seeds and caraway seeds in the vinegar for an hour or so.
- In a large sauté pan, in a little oil, fry off any dry ingredients with the onion until caramelised.
- Add the remaining ingredients – the eggplant, vinegar mixture, sugar and salt.
- Reduce the heat and stew until reduced and the sauce has thickened. This will take about 30 minutes.
- Enjoy warm or allow to cool and serve with crackers, bread or as a side with vegetables.
Observations
- This pickle is quite sweet and mild tasting. Next time, I intend on cutting the sugar back by half, reducing the oil content by half and increasing the spice content by double.
- Today Joe and I feasted on this Brinjal with some hot crusty home-made sourdough bread!
- As eggplants are in full season, I was able to utilise two different varieties in this dish. It doesn’t matter which variety you can access.
- Diabetic Note: As delicious as it is, the recipe (ingredients) I used today is not diabetic friendly unless it’s used sparingly. The changes I mention above (observations) should make it a much wiser option for diabetics.
- Ethical Note: Pickling is a great way of utilising seasonal produce that allows you to enjoy those flavours long after the season is over. Reusing old jars and tubs is a great way of recycling.
