The Ritual Master Ingredients :
3 medium eggplants
1 small onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons keshk (cream of whey, you can find it in Iranian markets)
1 teaspoon dried mint
salt, olive oil
Peel the eggplants, cut them lengthwise in 8-10 strips, then salt them heavily and put them aside for 20min. Then half-wash them quickly under the tap to remove most of the salt (and the bitterness they usually have), pat them dry and fry them lightly in some olive oil. They should be getting some colour but this won’t cook them through.
In the same pan, quickly sauté the chopped onion, then bring back all of the fried eggplant and pile them on top, cover with 1 cup of water, add the tomato paste and let it cook on low heat, with the lid on, until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. You eggplants should be soft and mushy by now, perfect for blending.
You could mash them by hand but I use my food processor, and add 1 teaspoon of keshk (this is optional, many traditional recipes use the keshk only on top, but I love the flavour so much I like to have some in the background as well).
In your serving bowl, top with a liquid keshk sauce (1 teaspoon of keshk diluted in a little water to obtain a runny double cream consistency) and some fried dry mint (use dry and not fresh, fry for 15 seconds in hot olive oil then drizzle on top).
Bon appétit !
