Eggplant Caviar

Ingredients:
3 large eggplants
3-4 medium white onions
3 medium carrots, optional
6 medium tomatoes
3 red peppers
3 cloves garlic
olive oil (or best unrefined cottonseed oil, but it’s not healthy for you, so I, personally stick with olive oil)
sugar
salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Halve your eggplant lengthwise and bake, on a parchment covered shallow baking sheet (like a jelly roll) for roughly 40-45 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft when pierced with a fork (my mother’s instructions, and I quote, “until the eggplant looks sad”). Remove from oven and let come to room temperature before removing the skin. Chop the eggplant into cubes and brown in a heavy bottomed pan. Set aside. [Read this: a few tips here. First of all in cutting your cooked eggplant, use a serrated knife. You won’t believe how much easier and faster that cutting process will go for you! Also, and this goes for anything you chop, I like to use a pastry scraper to scoop my chopped vegetables and place them into a bowl. This is especially helpful if you are chopping a lot of vegetables and your cutting board is only so big. Lastly, the parchment paper on which your eggplant baked? Don’t throw it out after baking. After chopping your eggplant, cover the bowl with the parchment paper until you are ready to use your eggplant. See, as LITTLE waste as possible!]

In a heavy bottomed pan like a dutch oven, over medium heat, cook onions, carrots, peppers, and garlic in olive oil, until soft.

Add finely chopped tomatoes to the vegetable mix and saute until the tomatoes start to disintegrate. Then add the browned eggplant.

Simmer the vegetables over the lowest heat possible for 4-6 hours. Longer cooking time aids to developing deeper, more complex flavors.

In the process of cooking periodically stir and taste. Add salt and sugar to your liking as the mass is cooking down.

Serve hot, warm, or cold, depending on the mood and occasion.