Who here loves fermented veggies? They’re healthy, packed with flavor, and probiotics, and couldn’t are super easy to make! This fermented eggplant recipe has it all! It’s flavorsome, juicy, spicy, crunchy, and go’s great with everything.
The combination of spices and the crunchiness from the onion and eggplant perfectly compliment the recipe, and tastes amazing! 🙂
Throwing just a few basic ingredients together, and patiently waiting for it to ferment, this recipe couldn’t get any easier. So, let’s brighten up our next sandwich, with this fermented eggplant recipe.
What You’ll Need
- 1 Medium Eggplant
- 1 Small Onion
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1/2 Tablespoon of Sea Salt
- 1 Teaspoon of Dried Chili Flakes
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Sprigs of Fresh Oregano or Za-atar
Instructions
1. First things first, make sure that your counter top, cutting board, hands and anything that will be touching the ingredients are super clean.
2. Wash, peel and cut the eggplant into 1-2 cm cubes and place in a bowl. Add the sea salt to the eggplant and give it a quick toss.
3. Then cover the eggplant with a plate and add something to weight it down. I put another bowl on the plate and pressed down firmly a few times every few minutes.
4. This is done so that the salt can really release the juices from the eggplant and soften it up.
5. Once you’ve let it rest for at least 10 minutes, add the onion and massage it with the eggplant and its juices. The onion will further release its own juices, which is great for us as these juices will make up our brine later on.
6. Finely slice the garlic and add it to the bowl along with the chili flakes and oregano/ za-atar. Give the whole mixture one last massage.
Almost Finished!
7. Now add everything into a glass jar with an airlock, this is important because in order for our eggplant to ferment it needs to be in an anaerobic, without air, environment. You can find a full explanation here.
8. All that’s left is to weight our eggplant down with something so it’ll stay under the brine. You can use plastic wrap to cover and then use a glass to weight it down. I use a shot glass for my smaller batches and regular glasses for my larger batches.
9. Finally, leave your fermented eggplant out at room temperature, away from direct light, for 5 – 7 days, before you transferring them to the fridge. What are you waiting for? Dig in! 🙂
Don’t forget, sharing is caring darlings!
Until next time,
Have A Bright Day xx
