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1000 recipes · 100 countries · updated weekly

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Dish of the week: Holubtsi

25 Eggplant Recipes From 21 Cuisines.

A sponge with ambitions. Eggplant absorbs oil, smoke and sauce like nothing else, which makes it the meatiest vegetable in Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Japanese cooking — think moussaka, baba ganoush, nasu dengaku. Charring whole over flame until collapsed gives the smoky flesh that defines the best dips. Salting before frying is less about bitterness now and more about texture.

25 recipes on this route

The recipes.

Rolled fried aubergine slices filled with pale walnut paste, topped with pomegranate seeds and coriander

Georgia2 hr 25 min

Badrijani Nigvzit

Georgian Eggplant Rolls with Walnut Paste

A square of Greek moussaka showing layers of eggplant, meat sauce and golden béchamel

Greece3 hr 15 min

Greek Moussaka

Eggplant and Béchamel Bake

Wide clay dish of baked Bulgarian gyuvech with browned aubergine, okra, peppers and tomato slices over pork

Bulgaria2 hr 25 min

Gyuvech

Bulgarian Baked Vegetable and Pork Casserole

Split braised eggplants filled with golden onion and tomato, glistening with olive oil on a shallow dish

Turkey3 hr 30 min

İmam Bayıldı

Olive Oil Braised Stuffed Eggplant

A tray of Iraqi dolma turned out as a dome, with stuffed peppers, aubergines, onion cups and vine leaf rolls in red broth

Iraq3 hr 20 min

Iraqi Dolma

Mixed Stuffed Vegetables in One Pot

Bowl of Maltese kapunata with browned aubergine cubes, peppers, olives and capers in thick tomato

Malta1 hr 35 min

Kapunata

Maltese Aubergine, Caper and Olive Stew

Kare-kare in an earthenware pot: oxtail in thick orange peanut sauce topped with eggplant, long beans and bok choy

Philippines4 hr 10 min

Kare-Kare

Filipino Oxtail Peanut Stew

Flat skewers of charred Armenian khorovats resting on lavash beside blistered aubergines and peppers

Armenia4 hr 50 min

Khorovats

Armenian Charcoal-Grilled Skewers

Thick dark Haitian legim vegetable stew with beef and crab spooned beside white rice

Haiti3 hr 10 min

Legim

Haitian Mashed Vegetable Stew

Baked aubergine parmigiana in a dish, browned cheese on top and visible layers of aubergine and tomato in a cut portion

Italy2 hr

Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Baked Aubergine with Tomato and Mozzarella

Shallow dish of Persian mirza ghasemi, dark smoked eggplant mashed with tomato and garlic with ribbons of set egg

Iran55 min

Mirza Ghasemi

Persian Smoked Eggplant and Egg

Thick Luang Prabang or lam stew with long beans, wood ear mushrooms, eggplant and fresh dill in a clay bowl

Laos1 hr 30 min

Or Lam

Luang Prabang Herb and Eggplant Stew

Every recipe on this route.

All 25 of them, alphabetically, with the country each one comes from.

also known asaubergine

common in