Zaalouk
Moroccan aubergine and tomato cooked right down to a dark, garlicky jam. It is finished when a spoon leaves a clean trail.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 55m
- Waiting
- 30m
- Total
- 1h 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 2 | Steam the aubergine until completely collapsed 15m Steaming rather than frying keeps it from soaking up oil before it has softened. | Cook the aubergine and tomato together, covered, for 25 minutes 25m | Crush with a fork and reduce uncovered until a spoon leaves a clear trail 15m Fork, not blender. Zaalouk should look homemade, with recognisable shreds of aubergine in it. | |
| 500 g | Cook down until the raw tomato smell goes 15m | |||
| 5 tbsp | ||||
| 5 cloves | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 1/4 tsp | ||||
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| a large handful | ||||
| a small handful | ||||
-
Steam the aubergine until completely collapsed
15m- aubergines 2
Steaming rather than frying keeps it from soaking up oil before it has softened.
-
Cook down until the raw tomato smell goes
15m- ripe tomatoes 500 g
- extra virgin olive oil 5 tbsp
- garlic 5 cloves
- sweet paprika 2 tsp
- ground cumin 2 tsp
- fine salt 1 1/2 tsp
- cayenne 1/4 tsp
-
Cook the aubergine and tomato together, covered, for 25 minutes
25m- from 1 Steam the aubergine until completely collapsed
- from 2 Cook down until the raw tomato smell goes
-
Crush with a fork and reduce uncovered until a spoon leaves a clear trail
15m- from 3 Cook the aubergine and tomato together, covered, for 25 minutes
- lemon juice 1 tbsp
- coriander a large handful
- flat-leaf parsley a small handful
Fork, not blender. Zaalouk should look homemade, with recognisable shreds of aubergine in it.
Reducing, not frying
Both main ingredients are more than 90 percent water, so the first forty minutes are evaporation and nothing else. Only when the free water has gone can the pan get above 100°C, and that is when the tomato sugars start to caramelise and the paprika blooms in the oil rather than sitting on top of it. Take it off early and you have a watery stew that tastes of raw spice.
Grating the tomatoes is a trick worth keeping: the skin stays in your hand and the flesh comes off already pulped.
Notes
- Salt early. It helps the aubergine give up water in the covered stage.
- Lemon at the end only. Acid added early slows the aubergine’s softening.
- Room temperature with bread, and noticeably better the next day.