Eggplant And Vegetable Ragout Recipe

If you love anything with eggplant, you'll surely enjoy this flavorful turkish appetizer, or meze, called akuka (shahk-shoo-kah). Akuka is a vegetarian medley of eggplant and zucchini squash, fried in olive oil and mixed with a tomato sauce made from green and red peppers, onions, and garlic. This makes a thick, spreadable mixture that is delicious as a starter or side dish with grilled meats, and as a topping for grilled hamburgers and chicken breast. It even works as a spread for melba toast or crackersIt's a versatile dish you can make all year round with any vegetables that are in season, as long as the main ingredient remains eggplant. You can make akuka as mild or as spicy as you like. Simply substitute sweet peppers with hot pepper varieties and add some hot pepper paste or hot pepper flakes to the tomato sauce before mixing it with the vegetables. Some people like to use a lot of tomato paste to make the sauce thicker. I prefer to cook down fresh tomatoes to make a lighter, less acidic sauce. If you don't have much time and need a shortcut, you can substitute the tomato sauce with mildly-seasoned, jarred pasta sauce. Akuka is easy to prepare, just make sure you have plenty of paper towels on hand to drain the fried vegetables well. The eggplant will absorb a lot of oil during frying, and too much can weigh the dish down. Before serving, akuka is topped with generous amounts of creamy, whipped plain yogurt seasoned with garlic.