Fried eggplant with fresh tomato garlic vinegar sauce

Worked out very well. A key point was salting the eggplant and leaving for a while before squeezing out the water and then frying. This prevents the eggplant absorbing so much oil when it is first cooked. Cooking the eggplant pretty much browns it. This is a surprisingly easy and simple recipe with pretty guaranteed decent results (at least on the first attempt).

Here is another pretty identical recipe. Note that cubing seems an alternative to slicing and tinned tomatoes an alternative to fresh tomatoes which should probably be de-seeded.

The Turkish cultural ministry appears to have this recipe on its web site.

Ingredients

• 1½-pound eggplant
• Salt
• Olive oil
• 1½ pounds fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
• 3 teaspoons vinegar

Preparation

1. Peel eggplant lengthwise in a striped fashion and remove the stem. Quarter it lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle generously with salt and let stand at least 1 hour.
2. Rinse eggplant in plenty of water, squeeze each slice dry, and fry in 1 cup hot olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
3. To make the sauce, pour off any remaining oil from the frying pan and put in 1 tablespoon fresh olive oil.
4. Add tomatoes and sprinkle with a little salt; simmer until tomatoes form a sauce, mashing them down with a fork.
5. Stir in garlic and vinegar and remove from heat. Taste and adjust with salt and vinegar.
6. Place the eggplant in a serving bowl and cover with the sauce. Serve cold or at room temperature with crusty bread.