When I was in Kuwait, we had our dinner in my late grand father's house. We were eating middle eastern food, and most of these foods were eaten using pita bread. I noticed one of the foods we eat is a popular Levantine dish called Makdous.
Levantine and Middle Eastern food offers some of the best and healthiest food in the world. Some of their foods contain spices and olive oil which makes the dish healthy. Specifically, in the Levantine region (Palestine, Jordan, Syrian, Lebanon, and Israel), their diet is similar to the Mediterranean and Spanish diet because of the high uses of olive oil.
Today, I will be making you a delicious healthy Makdous Recipe. In English, Makdous is a pickled eggplant that is it is soaked with olive oil. And it is mix with walnut, garlic, and red chili flakes. Furthermore, Makdous Recipe is a popular dish among Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian locals.
Ingredients needed to make Makdous
To make a Makdous recipe, you need a baby eggplant or aubergine and this is a MUST. Because I am living in a tropical country in the Philippines, long eggplant is the only eggplant that is available in this country, which is one of the obstacles of making this recipe. To resolve this, I just slice the long eggplant into two pieces to make sure it can fit into the jar.
Furthermore, you need garlic, walnut, and red chili flakes for seasoning and filling the eggplant. Also, you need salt for boiling the water, and for removing the excess juices of the eggplant, which I will be explaining how in the next paragraph.
Lastly, one of the most important ingredients you need is Olive oil. The olive oil will be used to soak the eggplant in the jar. The jar must be filled to help maintain the quality and increase the life span of Makdous.
What are the Kitchen Equipment or Utensil needed
There are two things you need to make Makdous. First, you need a large pot where you will be boiling the eggplant for a few minutes. And second, you need a large jar where you will be putting the eggplant and covered it in olive oil.
Instruction when making Makdous Recipe
Firstly, you boiled the eggplant for 6 to 10 minutes or until it is a bit soft. Make sure it is not too soft for it will break the eggplant.
After you boiled the eggplant, transfer into the colander to remove all the water. Later, sliced the center of the eggplant into a vertical shaped like a hotdog bun, and filled each of them with salt. Covered with a plate or tray, and leave it up to 24 hours to help remove excess juices. Some prefer to keep it in room temperature, but I prefer to put in the refrigerator to prevent spoiling the eggplant.
Separately, mixed all the garlic, walnut, and red chili flakes, and prepare this for filling each eggplant. Once you remove all the liquid, stuff the eggplant with these ingredients, and put it all into the jar where you will fill it up with olive oil. Leave it in the refrigerator 1 week before serving.
Below is the full instruction of the Makdous Recipe
An Easy Makdous Recipe (Pickled Eggplant)
Ingredients
- 3 long eggplant or 6 baby eggplant or aubergines
- 1 and ½ teaspoon of grind garlic
- ½ cup of walnut
- 1 teaspoon of red chilli flakes
- salt
- Pure or Extra Virgin Olive oil
Instructions
- Add water in the pot. Once the water is boiling, add the eggplant in the pot. Let it boil for 6 to 10 minutes or till it is soft
- Transfer the pot into the colander to remove all the excess water off the eggplant. Sliced the center of each eggplant into a vertical shaped like a hotdog bun, and transfer into a plate. Fill each eggplant with salt
- Cover the eggplant with a plate or tray and keep it in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours. The salt and the pressure of the plate/tray will further help remove the excess juices of the eggplant.
- Separately, grind the walnut, garlic and red chili flakes in a food processor, blender or wooden mortar. Mix together, and put in a plate or bowl for later use.
- After 24 hours, remove the eggplant from the refrigerator, and stuff each of these eggplants with the mixed walnut/garlic/red chili flakes. After filling each eggplant, transfer them into the clean jar
- After putting all the stuffed eggplant into the jar, fill the jar up with olive oil, and cover with a lid. Make sure the lid is tightly closed to prevent air going into the jar.
- Transfer the jar into the refrigerator, and keep it there for at least 1 week before serving.
Hi, how long can this stay after ready to serve? Can we preserve it like any other pickles? Thanks
Hi Nadia. Once you add the eggplant in the olive oil and put into the fridge, you should wait for 5 to 7 days before ready to eat. They can last for 6 months or more, but you have to make sure they are fully soaked with olive oil in the jar while storing in the fridge or freezer, or else it wouldn't last long. Hope this helps.
When the eggplants are eaten, can you use the excess olive oil in next container you make?
Hi Jean. Yes, you can use the remaining olive oil from the jar, but it wouldn't be effective since it was already used. It will be best you mix half of the used olive oil with the remaining half of the new olive oil. That way, the process of pickling the eggplant will be effective. I hope I answered your question.