The tender, yielding, mouth pleasing richness of texture is described in Greek as "λουκουμι"- loukoumi- what we know as Turkish Delight (a name which, in turn, is semi-jokingly called an oxymoron by more conservative English-speaking Greeks). Meats- slow roasted or gently braised ("melt in the mouth") dishes- are often called "loukoumi," and so are these magnificent melting eggplants, stuffed with sliced onions that are themselves nearly falling apart, sweet and fragrant. They really are a Turkish delight- known and beloved in all the neighboring countries as well, prepared as if their own. It's ideal for the Orthodox fast, and for vegetarian and vegan friends. and it is beautiful on the table- those paisley shaped eggplant halves and the golden onions in their orange oil glitter like gems.
Oil elevates the humble ingredients. Like with our other oil rich dishes- green beans in oil and tomato, cuttlefish in wine- you need a lot to get the desired oil-bathed tenderness, but the excess floats free of the dish (tinted and richly scented with the best notes- you could just ignore it, leaving it in a fragrant pool on your plate). Apart from this lavishness, the dish is modest in expense- just a couple of eggplants and two or three onions, a bay leaf, some allspice berries, salt and pepper. And time- it cooks slowly, but mainly untended.
We will need:
2 large eggplants
3 onions
1 large tomato
120 ml/ 1/2 C olive oil
a bay leaf
whole allspice (if you have none, use a modest pinch of cinnamon, and an even smaller one of cloves)
salt and pepper
parsley to garnish
Halve the eggplants lengthwise and score them from end to end all over, making sure to score deeply into the stem end- the slowest part to soften. Salt them all over like crazy to draw out any of the bitterness that eggplants sometimes have.
This will draw out some moisture as well. Rinse the salt off and squeeze them dry-
The flesh of the eggplant- spongy before- is now dried and more compact. The scoring lets the oil cook them deeply, without getting soaked in and making them leaden. Put just under half of the oil in a skillet and warm it to medium. Place the eggplants in the pan- as snugly as you like- in fact if they don't quite fit, they will soon as they begin to soften and take up.
As they slowly cook, the eggplant color will be lost and they will turn a deep tan- this is no great loss as they will be cut-side up anyway
While they are cooking, peel and halve the onions and slice them as thinly as you can. Change the positions of the eggplants from time to time- the ones in the center may singe a little otherwise as the outer ones stay firm- and let them gently fry until they are tender when pierced all over with a fork. The cut side will be golden and browned in spots. Move them to a plate, and put the onions into the tasty dirty pan with the rest of the oil, the bay leaf, and four or five whole allspice (or ground spices), and let them slowly saute, stirring once in a while. After about 20 minutes or a little more they should look like this:
Grate the tomato on the large holes of the box grater and add the pulp to the pan along with salt and pepper to taste, and cook a while longer until the oil floats free and it is almost syrupy:
Stuff the eggplant halves with the onions and put them stuffed side up back into the skillet on very low heat, just to give the bottoms a chance to soften more and the flavors to blend. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with parsley if you like, with bread for the sauce and some feta on the side, and maybe a wine that is not ultra dry to play up all that soothing sweetness- loukoumi indeed.
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