Not everyone loves this vegetable, but if you cook such a chic eggplant salad, guests will eat with great pleasure. Some do not even realize that the main ingredient here is eggplant. It turns out a tricky and tasty dish. Many tasters think that the basis of the dish is fried mushrooms, but this is not so - a little secret to cooking, the highlight of the salad, adds to the originality of the recipe.
Zest
What is the secret of this gorgeous eggplant salad, because there is nothing unusual in its composition? Let's start cooking! We will need simple and affordable ingredients:
- three pieces of eggplant;
- three eggs;
- two onions;
- three tablespoons of mayonnaise;
- salt and pepper to taste.
The highlight of this salad is that you first need to pickle the onions. To do this, take 1 teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of 9% vinegar, a glass of water.
First, peel and cut the onions. There is one secret: in order to avoid watery eyes during cutting, you need to put the bulb for a short time in the refrigerator. We cut the onion into thin half rings, periodically wetting the knife under a stream of cold water - and the knife cuts better, and onion tears do not bother.
Put the onions in a saucepan, add sugar, salt, vinegar and pour boiling water. Mix well, squeezing slightly, and leave to brew until completely cooled, for about 20-30 minutes. We start to cook the salad.
Chic eggplant salad: recipe with photo
The first thing to do is boil hard-boiled eggs. To do this, they must boil for at least 10 minutes. Drain the boiling water and leave the eggs in cold water until completely cooled. The shell will go well, and the hands will not be hot.
The second step is to cook the eggplant. When choosing eggplants, pay attention to the elasticity of the fruit, the uniformity of the color and the color of the stem - it should be green. It is better to choose medium-sized fruits, as too small can be unripe, and large - overripe.
Cut the eggplant into strips, salt and leave for 20 minutes. So bitterness will come out of them. Drain, blot the vegetable with a napkin. Pour a little vegetable oil into the pan, lay out the pieces of eggplant and fry for 5-7 minutes until golden, stirring occasionally. Put the fried vegetables on a paper towel to remove excess fat.
Third step: peel the eggs and cut them into thin strips.
The fourth and most enjoyable step is to assemble the salad. Put eggplant and eggs in a beautiful medium-sized container. Drain the marinade in which the onion was placed, put in a bowl, salt and add pepper to taste.
Spice lovers can add more spicy seasonings, but do not forget that further this chic eggplant salad will be seasoned with mayonnaise, which enhances the taste of spices. Stir the ingredients and add mayonnaise. Mix well again.
That's the whole recipe! Ready salad should be put in the refrigerator for about 30-40 minutes. He will insist, soaked in salt and spices.
Submission methods
Serve this chic eggplant salad with onions and eggs, both in total capacity and in portions in small salad bowls. You can put a tablespoon of salad on a tomato sliced in circles - effectively and very tasty.
Eggplant goes well with any raw vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots. Of course, almost any greens will fit this salad. For example, dill, parsley, cilantro, chives, basil. Vegetables and greens can be added to the salad, or you can decorate with light strokes on top.
You can make hearty and nutritious sandwiches by laying out a gorgeous eggplant salad on slices of bread, and put a thin plastic of ham or cheese on top.
Eggplant perfectly combines with any kind of cheese. Mozzarella and feta cheese are especially good. But you will add pickled cheeses to the eggplant, keep in mind that they are quite salty in themselves, so salt the salad you need to carefully or completely refuse to add salt, especially since there is mayonnaise in the recipe.
Refueling experiment
You can change the salad dressing, add different ingredients, experiment with taste sensations, try new combinations. For example, you can use sour cream instead of mayonnaise. In this case, the salad may seem to lose its spiciness. Just mix sour cream with garlic grated on a fine grater. The taste of the dish will be spicy. Enjoy your meal!