Bouranee Baunjan - Afghan Eggplant With Yogurt Sauce
"This is my take on the Afghan dish Bouranee Baunjan, and although it is not exactly authentic, it is quite delicious. :) It's a bit of work to put it together, but is not difficult and is worth it."
photo by Julesong
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 12
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 1 large globe eggplant
- salt
- oil (for frying)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon butter or 1 teaspoon ghee
- 1 large onion, sliced thinly
- 1⁄2 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced thinly (optional)
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1 (14 -15 ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with juice
- 1 cup strained yogurt (also known as yogurt cheese or "chakah")
- 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed garlic, to taste
- salt, to taste
directions
- Clean the peel of the eggplant, then cut the stem off.
- Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices (leaving the peel on).
- Spread slices on a flat surface or tray and sprinkle generously with salt; let sit for 30 minutes, then dry well with paper towels.
- In a skillet or pan melt the olive oil and butter together over medium low heat; sauté the sliced onion (and green pepper, if using) until nicely browned and slightly caramelized, then stir in the red pepper flakes.
- Pour oil into a separate deep frying pan (one that has a lid) to cover the bottom of pan; over medium high sauté the eggplant slices on both sides until lightly browned.
- As the eggplant slices are done, gently squeeze them with tongs to remove as much oil out of them as possible; discard extra oil.
- Remove extra oil from the deep frying pan, then place one layer of eggplant slices on the bottom of the pan.
- Place a bit of cooked onion on top of each slice; repeat with another layer of eggplant and cooked onion, until you're out of slices and onion.
- Pour the chopped tomatoes with their juice over the slices and onion, careful to not dislodge the onion too much.
- Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, then remove cover and simmer another 5 to reduce the sauce a bit.
- Combine the strained/drained yogurt, crushed garlic to taste, and salt to taste to make the chakah sauce.
- When eggplant is done, remove from heat then carefully transfer the slices to serving dish (careful not to dislodge the toppings), then top each with a dollop of the chakah sauce.
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Reviews
-
Yes, I made some changes--but I did not depart from the basic theory of the dish. I peeled the green pepper (not roasting, just peeling a la Jaques Pepin). I added chopped garlic to the onion and pepper. I grilled the egplant instead of frying it and I added a hit of cumin and just a little cinnamon. But the basic theory of the dish belongs to Jules and it is excellent. Some may like this as a side dish or even an appetizer. For me, it is a wonderful main course with some really good bread and a salad--what a meal! -
I just loved this! Thanks Julesong!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Julesong
Tukwila, 87
<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
