Egyptian pickled eggplant (pickled aubergine).

Growing up in Wisconsin we had a lot of pickled foods.  Pickled herring, pickled eggs, pickled beets, and many varieties of cucumber pickles were common in my Grandmother's house.  For the longest time, I genuinely thought that pickling was a cold climate tradition used to preserve food during the cold winter months.  While that may be the purpose of pickling in these areas, I have learned that pickling can be dated back to the Ancient Egyptians and was not only used for preserving food but also for improving the taste of food over time.

While living in Egypt I have tasted a lot of different pickled vegetables.  Available at almost every supermarket is your variety of pickled vegetables with includes carrots, cauliflower, banana peppers, and rutabagas.  There are pickled onions, pickled lemons (which I personally do not care for), pickled radishes in beet juice, pickled green beans...  All with unique flavors and textures but most are extremely delicious.

My favorite pickled vegetable would have to be eggplant/aubergine (bitingaen بتنجان) which Wael's mother makes from scratch at home.  They are small, finger sized eggplants with dark purple skin. They are boiled, stuffed, and then marinated for about a day.  The taste is amazing and so unique.

I have looked for the variety of eggplant they use for this, and have found what I believe is the variety they grow for it, known as Little Fingers in the United States.  They look like a hybrid between the ordinary fat tear shaped eggplant and the long and thin Japanese variety.  If you're interested in planting this variety in your garden, I recommend purchasing the seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Missouri (http://www.rareseeds.com/little-fingers-eggplant/).

Pickling eggplant, from my experience, takes patience and a little bit of luck especially if you're trying to match a taste to a recipe that someone just makes up as they go along.  My mother-in-law has never used a written recipe and much like a lot of my recipes, estimates how much of what she uses.  For example, when explaining the marinade, she told me to add vinegar but not so much that it will make the eggplant mushy.  Very helpful, but maybe not to someone who has never pickled them before... So, it has taken me a bit of experimenting to figure out the recipe she uses.

Pickling eggplant isn't like making ordinary pickles in the idea that you're not exactly soaking the eggplant for long periods of time, fully submerged in a brine of some sort.  Pickling eggplant is more like stuffing and then marinating eggplant for a short time in order to achieve the perfect mixture of tastes.

I guess, without further delay, here is the recipe for this wonderful appetizer.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 kg little finger or Japanese eggplant (aubergine)
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 cup of water
• 3 key limes
• 3 tablespoons of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fill a large stock put with water and heat to boiling.  Add eggplant and cover.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Remove from water and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Once cool, remove stems and score each eggplant down the center the long way.
3. In a mortar and pestle, crush garlic to remove skin.  Then put garlic back in and add cumin, chili powder, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of salt.  Pound until garlic is well broken and all ingredients are well blended.
4. Take a small amount of the spice mixture on your finger and run inside the scored area of the eggplant.  Make sure not to use too much so you have enough for each one.  Repeat until each is filled.
5. Place in a shallow bowl or baking dish, preferably in a single layer. 
6. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, remaining olive oil, juice of limes (make sure to keep the limes after) salt, and water. Whisk together until well mixed and salt is dissolved.
7. Add lime skins in bowl or dish with eggplants. Pour marinade over the mixture.
8. Refrigerate and allow to sit for 24 hours before eating.  Do not exceed 36 hours in marinade or they could begin to disintegrate. 
9. Remove from marinade and store in air tight container in refrigerator.  To avoid drying out, you can drizzle them with a little olive oil mixed with lime juice.
10. Serve chilled or at room temperature.