Torshi Bademjan – Persian Eggplant Pickled Recipe
Pickled eggplant is one of the most popular pickles, which is called Torshi Bademjan in Iran. Iranian eggplant pickles are made in different models; Stuffed eggplant is one of the famous forms of pickled eggplant in Iran.
Also, Lite Eggplant is another popular model. Liteh is one types of pickles with tiny small ingredients.
In this post, I am going to introduce 3 models of eggplant pickles.
What are the types of pickled eggplant?
You can use eggplants in any way you want for pickles, for example:
- Whole eggplants (Pickled Stuffed Eggplants or Shekam Por)
- Pureed and crushed eggplants (Liteh Bademjan)
- Chopped eggplant in circular or any other shape
Pickled stuffed eggplant (Shekam Por)
One of the most popular and famous types of pickled eggplants in Iran is Torshi Bademjan Shekam Por.
In this model, Iranians make a small cut on the eggplants and pour whatever they want inside their belly; Garlic is its stable base, you can also add chopped carrots.
Pickled stuffed eggplant (Torshi Bademjan Shekam Por)
Ingredients
- 1 kg Eggplants
- 1 Head of Garlic
Pickled spices
- 1 tbsp Coriander seed
- 1 tbsp Angelica seed
- 1 tbsp Black seed
- 1 tbsp Ground Dry Mint
- ½ tbsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Salt
Instructions
- Wash the eggplants and let them dry completely.
- If the tail of the eggplants is too long, remove it. Be careful not to completely remove the cap of the eggplants.
- Boil the eggplants with vinegar for about 5 minutes. Pour enough vinegar to cover the eggplants. They should be soft, but not deformed.
- Turn off the heat.
- Put them in a colander to remove the vinegar.
- Make a slit on the eggplants with a knife, lengthwise. It should not be deep and tear the other side.
- Peel and crush or grate the garlic.
- Combine garlic with salt and spices.
- Pour the the garlic into the belly of the eggplants. When they are full, sew their bellies together with thread and needle.You can wrap a piece of clean yarn around them like I did. In this way, their internal stuffs do not spill out.
- Place the eggplants in a jar and pour vinegar on them. The vinegar should completely cover the eggplants and be a knuckle above their surface.
- Place the jar in a dry place in the kitchen. Pickled stuffed eggplant is ready after 1 month.
Notes
- Choose small and young eggplants for this.
- Eggplants absorb the vinegar, so after a week you may need to open the lid and add some vinegar to cover the eggplants.
Liteh Bademjan
The most important point in making eggplant liteh is that the eggplants must be finely chopped and all the pickled ingredients must be thoroughly mixed.
In Liteh pickles, the pickled ingredients are finely chopped and they will taste each others.
How are eggplants prepared for Liteh Bademjan?
As I said, in liteh pickles, all the ingredients must be chopped and mixed together. There are 2 ways to chop eggplants:
- You can grill eggplants. Grill the eggplants properly. Then take their burnt skin. In this way, eggplant liteh will get an attractive smoky taste.
- Boil eggplants with vinegar for about 5 minutes until soft. With skin or without skin, the choice is yours.
Liteh Bademjan
Ingredients
- 1 kg Eggplants
- 5 cloves Garlic large
- 2 Hot fresh peppers
- 4 Carrots
- ½ tbsp Dried herbs such as mint, parsley, tarragon, and savory optional - 1/2 spoonful each
- White vinegar
Pickled Spice:
- 1 tbsp Coriander seed
- 1 tbsp Angelica seed
- ½ tbsp Tumeric
- ½ tbsp Pepper
- 1 tbsp Black seed
- 1 tbsp salt
Instructions
- Sauté the Persian hogweed and coriander seeds in a pan for 1 minute until they lose their raw aroma and taste. (This step is optional)
- Either barbecue the eggplants or cut them into rondelles and boil them in vinegar for 1 minute.
- Cut some fresh carrots and peppers and add them to the vinegar. Let them boil for one minute. You can grate carrots.
- Add the crushed garlic.
- Add salt, torshi spice, Persian hogweed, coriander seeds, black seeds, and dry herbs.
- Turn the heat off. When the ingredients cool down, sieve them and separate the vinegar. Keep the vinegar for later.
- Using a hand blender or a food processor, crush the ingredients. If you’ve already barbecued the eggplants, puree them separately using a blender and then mix them with the rest of the ingredients.
- Pour everything into a jar and pour vinegar on them. Store the jar in a cool, dark place. After 1 week, the ingredients should have fully absorbed the taste of vinegar and your Torshi Liteh is ready to serve!
Notes
If eggplant seeds enter the vinegar as you’re boiling the eggplants, sieve the vinegar before pouring it into the jar.
Chopped pickled eggplant
In the third model of pickled eggplant, you cut the eggplants in any shape you want. Chop eggplants into rings, cubes, or pieces you want. Then boil with vinegar and mix with the other ingredients.
Chopped eggplant pickles are prepared earlier than the Shekam Por (Pickled stuffed eggplant); But Liteh is ready faster than these two models.
Chopped pickled eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 kg Eggplants
- 10 cloves Garlic large
- 3 Fresh hot peppers
- 3 tbsp Dry vegetables such as mint, tarragon, dried parsley
- Salt as needed
- Vinegar as needed
Instructions
- First, wash the eggplants well.
- Chop them into cubes, rings or any other desired shape with the skin. Leave them aside.
- Separately slice or finely chop the garlic and fresh peppers and set aside.
- Heat the vinegar. When it boils, put pepper and eggplants in it. Let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes. It is enough for them to soft, they should not lose their shape.
- Turn off the heat. Remove the eggplant and peppers from the vinegar.
- Remove the boiled vinegar from the heat and pass it through a strainer after cooling down, to collect the pepper and eggplant seeds from inside.
- Pour eggplant, garlic, pepper and dried vegetables into the jar in layers until it full.
- Add salt to the cooled vinegar. Check it to sense is not too salty or without salt.
- Pour the vinegar over the ingredients to cover them completely.
- Close the lid of the jar tightly. Put it in the kitchen for 1 to 2 weeks. Then it is ready to use.
Notes)
- Wash the pickle jar well and dry it. It should be free of moisture and fat.
- The same vinegar you boiled the eggplants with, let it cool and finally use it to make pickles.
- You can use pickled eggplant with tamarind or pomegranate paste. The result will be fantastic.
- If eggplants are grilled, they get a delicious smoky flavor.
- If you use a meat grinder to puree eggplant, do not use the fine hole; Because they are too small and in the end the eggplant pickled are crushed.
Eggplants must be boiled?
Eggplant must be boiled or grilled. If the eggplant is not boiled or cooked, the eggplants will remain dry and vinegar will not be absorbed by them.
Eggplant is not like other fruits and has a fleshy texture. Other pickles like cherry pickles do not need to be boiled.
Even if the eggplants are finely chopped, they still need to be cooked or grilled, otherwise they will remain hard.
Quick pickled eggplant
If you are looking for your pickled eggplant to be ready to eat quickly, my advise is to make liteh pickled and skip the pickled stuffed eggplant.
Instead of boiling with vinegar, you can mix some water with vinegar. Remember to use a lot of water, your ingredients may taste like water; not vinegar.
Conclusion
Pickled eggplant is one of the most popular pickles in the world. Iranians also make it in different ways. In this post, I introduced 3 different types of pickled eggplant recipes.
According to your taste and how long you can wait, choose a recipe to make it and get started. I strongly advise to use of pomegranate paste or tamarind paste in eggplant pickles.
Tell me in the comments which model do you like the most? I will be happy to see your comments.
