Fried Eggplant Salad

My grandpa’s Fried Eggplant drenched in garlic sauce, drizzled with tahini and topped with pine nuts, feta, mint and tomatoes is the BEST Eggplant Salad you’ll ever make. Serious Mediterranean flavors make this eggplant recipe a must TRY!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen teasers of this fried eggplant recipe on and on. The truth is, it’s one of my favorite ways to serve eggplant. It’s also a real crowd pleaser. Every single person who’s tried this would always ask me for the recipe.

Another fun fact I’ve mentioned on Instagram a lot is how my late Grandpa was the absolute creative cook. He was however quite a messy cook, and so my grandma rarely allowed him in her kitchen. Because of that, we don’t have many recipes from him, but whatever we have, we cherish so deeply.

He made genius creations in the kitchen like this Hot Pepper Sauce. A chunky flavor packed hot sauce unlike any hot sauce you’ve had!

My Perfect Tahini Sauce recipe is also one he made very often and it pairs with so many recipes including today’s fried eggplant!

EGGPLANT RECIPE VIDEO

Here’s the video to make this delicious Mediterranean Eggplant Salad! For details and tips, keep reading below!

WHY FRIED EGGPLANT

While there are so many ways to oven fried eggplant, and one particular technique which I’ve shared with this Skinny Eggplant Parmesan Pasta recipe. I’ve been using that way for oven roasting/frying eggplant and it works wonders.

However, today we’re all about frying. Frying for this eggplant salad is essential because I use small eggplants and serve them halved. While you can use large eggplants and cut them up for this salad, I really prefer serving the salad with small halved eggplants.

What does fried eggplant taste like?

Three words are best to describe this: Creamy dreamy and rich! Eggplant usually has a slightly bitter taste and spongy chewy texture, however when fried, they taste like pure decadence.

Should you salt eggplant before frying?

The truth is no. While salting is meant to remove the bitterness of eggplants, you really need to let the salt sit for hours and then rinse, pat dry and cook. If you’re roasting, salting has no effect. And if you’re frying small eggplants like those I used today, there’s barely any bitterness.

I would only salt eggplant if I’m using huge eggplants and need them to be ultra crisp. Overall salting is unnecessary.

How to Fry Eggplant?

For today’s eggplant salad, cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and fry in hot oil. The eggplant will float to the surface and you may need to flip it. Another was to cook today’s eggplant is pan frying which works great just as deep frying but with longer coking time.

Now let’s get into today’s eggplant salad recipe!

EGGPLANT RECIPE

Scroll below for the full video of this delicious Mediterranean infused Eggplant salad!

Ingredients for Eggplant Salad

• Small eggplants cut in half lengthwise
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Vinegar
• Dried coriander
• Perfect Tahini Sauce
• Fresh Mint and Parsley Chopped
• Toasted pinenuts
• Greek Yogurt (optional for topping)
• Chopped tomatoes
• Green chillies or jalapenos
• Feta cheese
• Chilli flakes

How To Fry Eggplant

• Start off by slicing the eggplants in half lengthwise.
• Deep fry the eggplants in hot oil and remember to flip them as they will float.
• Remove the eggplants on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
• Prepare the sauce!

Sauce

This is sort of the secret ingredient that infuses the eggplant with flavor. So so much flavor! Aside from the Perfect Tahini Sauce which goes at the bottom of the plate and gets drizzled over the eggplants, there are also toppings. I’ve included a variety of toppings so you can pick and choose from. The sauce however is different.

This sauce is made up of olive oil, garlic, a splash of vinegar and dried coriander (or cumin). As unusual as it may seem, but trust me, this sauce is KEY to the eggplant salad!

The eggplants soak up this sauce first and then take on the tahini drizzle. So for maximum flavor and soaking up of the sauce, it’s best to have a really hot eggplant (right off the fryer) drizzled with sauce, or, a hot sauce (right off the pan) poured over the cooled fried eggplant.

It’s sort of like making baklava or brushing syrup on a cake. The concept is that either of the components has to be hot off the oven or pan. So either the syrup (for the cake example) or the cake need to be hot in order to soak up the flavors.

Topping for Eggplant Salad

There’s really one topping you cant miss and that’s the Perfect Tahini Sauce. Aside from that, you can probably tell formt he video, I’ve used several ways to top the salad differently. And here are some of my favorite toppings:

• Toasted pine Nuts
• Fresh Mint chopped
• Fresh parsley chopped
• Tomatoes also chopped
• Green chillies or jalapenos sliced
• Garlicky Sauce ( more about it in this Lamb Gyro Recipe)
• Greek Yogurt
• Sumac Spice (more about it here Labneh Dip with Zaatar Pistachio Mint Olive Topping)
• Feta Cheese
• Chilli flakes

You’ll also notice that I love spreading the different toppings so some eggplants will have a mint and toasted pin nuts topping only while others have tomatoes and feta and others have Greek yogurt and mint..etc

EGGPLANT SALAD TIPS

• Start with small eggplants for frying
• Fry eggplants without salting
• Cutting eggplants lengthwise allows for space to for the toppings
• Either the eggplant or the garlic sauce need to be hot before drizzling, that way the eggplants soak more flavor.
• A fork is a great way to infuse the sauce into the fried eggplant. Poke the insides of the eggplant using a fork and pour the sauce.
• Use my Perfect Tahini Sauce at the bottom of the serving dish not only for drizzling. This also optimizes flavor.
• Have your favorite toppings chopped and ready.
• Use a variety of toppings and top the fried eggplant halves differently for a more attractive salad.
• To prepare the salad in advance: The eggplants needs to be fried and drizzled with the garlic sauce. They can keep in the fridge for a week.
• On serving day, dress up the eggplant salad with tahini and other toppings.
• Leftover dressed eggplant can be stored in the fridge for 4-7 days. The tomatoes are the only topping that wilt fast, other toppings handle storage in the fridge well.

MEDITERRANEAN RECIPES 

Skinny Eggplant Parmesan Pasta

Hot Pepper Sauce

Bread Feta Salad with Figs

Mediterranean Turkey Sandwich

Mediterranean Farro Salad with Sweet Zesty Lemonade Dressing

Watermelon Salad Wedges

Best Falafel Sandwich

Mediterranean Baked Fish

Caprese Salad