A French Classic: Aubergine Caviar or Eggplant Dip
There are many many way to make eggplant taste wonderful, the most famous one is with a lot of garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Most people grill it, even to make a dip. I’m here to tell you, you don’t need to. You can make an eggplant caviar in a much shorter time, 15 minutes, by steaming it. Besides the health advantages ( cleansing steam + nutrient preservation), you get to taste the eggplant’s full taste potential. I will let you judge for yourself!
Do you love eggplants? There are many many way to make eggplant taste wonderful, the most famous one is with a lot of garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Most people grill it, even to make a dip. I’m here to tell you, you don’t need to. You can make an eggplant caviar in a much shorter time, 15 minutes, by steaming it. Besides the health advantages ( cleansing steam + nutrient preservation), you get to taste the eggplant’s full taste potential. I will let you judge for yourself!
A French Classic, The Steamed Cuisine Way
Many of my recipes are my own. Many are also modified versions of my country’s culinary culture, or should I say treasure box.
Eggplant dip, or “aubergine caviar” is one of these. But traditionally, we make aubergine caviar with roasted aubergine. And don’t get me wrong, it’s yummy! But when upon this recipe’s creation, France didn’t know much about steam cooking and no one had tried it with a steam cooker – that I know of.
Ready in 15 minutes, all in!
Steam the eggplant
So I just had to try! And it worked wonderfully. First, I did not need to roast the aubergine 25 whole minutes and burn its skin. Burning the skin serves no purpose: we peel the skin off to make this dip. In a mere 10 minutes the eggplant is soft enough to be used in the dish.
Steam the Onion
Sauté the onion and garlic 10 minutes was not needed either. In 3 minutes in the steamer, the onion was soft enough to finish sauté in the pan with garlic ( at low heat) with one slice of fresh tomato, and extra virgin olive oil – without burning the oil.
Then it took blending eggplant, oil, salt and pepper, and onion and garlic mix together in a food processor. And that was it. Leaving the container in the fridge overnight hits the sweet spot: this is a necessary step for all flavors to come out.
And it tastes wonderful. Next thing I will have to try is Baba Ganousch!
What do I serve it with?
The Traditional Way
Eggplant caviar is a dip, you can use it as such ! My kids love to use as a tartine, spread on mini slices of baguette like bruschetta, which is the traditional way of eating it. Sprinkle some cut parsley on top, a bit more olive oil, done. If you are gluten sensitive, that works very well on gluten free crackers too!
Throw Sticks into it
You can dip carrots in it ( fermented carrots taste great in it !), cucumber sticks, slices of radish. Strong tastes go particularly well with it.
Make it fun : Spoon Feed it !
Even better, cut some tomatoes in slices and spread a layer of eggplant dip on top, eat with a soup spoon! You can line up all your soup spoons in a row, lay a tomato slice at the bottom, spread eggplant caviar on top of the tomato, sprinkle with sesame, add a bit of olive oil. Let each kid take a spoon, and make them eat all at the same time ! So it again at will!
Pasta Sauce
You can use it as pasta sauce, too! To go with it, I would steam + sauté some mushrooms and shallots, throw into the dish with raw mini tomatoes and some fresh arugula. I would then grate some sheep cheese (Manchego or Pecorino Romano) on top, and/or sprinkle some shaved almond on top.
Last but not least; don’t worry about the fats!
I’m not a doctor nor your doctor nor your health coach, but doctors say it: Don’t worry about fats! In one bowl, this recipes contains perhaps 3 tbsp of olive oil. On my plate, I add more, because the taste is just even better. The oil is not heated ( or only at lowest heat possible), so it does retain his nutrient density.
This recipe is specifically made with healthy ingredients. The oil is not heated ( or only at lowest heat possible), so it does retain his nutrient density. Moreover, a good extra virgin olive oil is healthy for you, for your brain ! If you don’t believe me, check out Dr Mark Hyman’s book, Eat Fat, Get Thin. If there anythiong in this recipe you may want to avoid, that’s probably the baguette !
Whatever you do
Bon appétit!
French Eggplant "Caviar" Dip
Do you love eggplants? There are many many way to make eggplant taste wonderful, the most famous one is with a lot of garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Most people grill it, even to make a dip. I'm here to tell you, you don't need to. You can make an eggplant caviar in a much shorter time, 15 minutes, by steaming it. Besides the health advantages ( cleansing steam + nutrient preservation), you get to taste the eggplant's full taste potential. I will let you judge for yourself!
Ingredients
- One eggplant, cut in two, lengthwise
- Half an onion
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- One slice tomato
- 2 cloves garlic
- A pinch paprika
- Salt 1/2 tsp, pepper to taste
Instructions
- Fill up the tank of your steam cooker with 2 inches water. Turn on the stove on high heat.
- Cut the eggplant in two, lengthwise. Once the steam cooker is hot, i.e. once it steams abundantly, place the eggplant in the steam basket, facing down. Put on the lid. Steam for 10 minutes
- Take out the eggplant, place it in a dish, set aside.
- Slice the onion place in steam cooker 3 minutes;
- Heat up a small sauté pan on low heat. Once hot, add some extra virgin olive oil, the two cloves of garlic, and the slice of tomato; mix them and let it sit for 5 minutes
- While the onion cooks, peel the eggplant with a pairing knife. The skin should come of fairly easily.
- Cut the eggplant in big chunks, then throw the eggplant, the onion and garlic mix, salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika into a food processor. Add olive oil. Blend until smooth.
- Transfer the dip into a pyrex container, close it and refrigerate over night.
- Serve on slices of baguette, as a pasta sauce, dip some carrots, cucumbers or slices of radish. Bon appétit!
Notes
You will need the steam cooker to make this recipe ! Check my post What I Use and where to purchase it You will get more info about the Vitaliseur steam cooker and where to purchase it with my code. THis code is good for the US and Canada. Need it in Europe? Contact me at bernadette@steamedcuisinelifestyle.com and I will send you a discount code.
Need a good food processor? This is the one I use.
Other Recipes You May Like
- A Dip? Try the Parsley Apple Olive oil Veggie dip or, on a spicier side, Spicy Pepper and Feta Dip
- Kid friendly entrees with steamed rice: Fried Rice, Steamed Cuisine Style, or Pineapple Chicken over Basmati Rice
- Entree salads work great as the weather warm up and pool season starts! Mediterranean Rice and Tuna Salad and Kale & Quinoa Lemony Goodness salad
- A treat? Get the ones to go like Orange & Almond Steamed Bites or Chocolate Hazelnuts Einkorn Steamed Bites !
Whatever you chose,
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