Mesa'a'ah

An egyptian eggplant sauce that pairs perfectly with pita

There were too many eggplants in my fridge, so I decided to do something about that. I could have made my melitzanosalata, but I didn’t feel like that would be filling enough, and it was too cold outside to grill. That’s when I stumbled upon a dish I had never heard of before. Behold, the Egyptian dish “mesa’a’ah”.

Ingredients

  • Tomato paste (about 1 tsp)
  • Eggplants (Like, 2 or something)
  • Strained tomatoes (about 500 grams or something)
  • Salt
  • Dried coriander
  • Cumin
  • Lots of olive oil
  • White onion
  • Garlic (about 6 cloves?)

Cooking plan

  • Dice your onion and mince your garlic. Add olive oil to a pot and cook your aromatics until fragrant and a little browned.
  • Start slicing your eggplants into disks (they will be grilled, so try to keep them thick enough). Afterwards, sprinkle them generously with salt and dried coriander.
  • Add tomato paste to your pot and turn up the heat a little. Be careful not to burn the paste.
  • In a separate pan, grill your eggplant slices (in batches if they don’t fit in your pan).
  • To your pot, finally add your strained tomatoes and cumin to taste. Let it cook on medium heat while you finish grilling your eggplant.
  • Finally, add your eggplant to your pot and cover it in the sauce. Serve wit pita.

ENJOY!