🇸🇾 Syria
Makdous
Every autumn, Syrian kitchens fill with trays of tiny eggplants being stuffed for the mouneh — makdous is winter insurance, eaten straight from the jar.
🔪 Prep: 45 min🔥 Cook: 15 min📈 Difficulty: Takes love
Cooking for
8 people
✨ What makes it special
A walnut, red pepper, and garlic stuffing, salted and pressed for days before drowning in olive oil.
Ingredients
- 1 kgbaby eggplants
- 200 gwalnuts, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, finely minced
- 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
- 1 tbspchili flakes
- 3 tbspcoarse salt
- 750 mlolive oil, to cover
Method
- 1
Boil the eggplants briefly until just tender, then press them under a weight overnight to drain.
- 2
Mix the walnuts, pepper, garlic, chili, and a spoon of salt into a coarse stuffing.
- 3
Slit each eggplant, salt the inside, and pack it with stuffing.
- 4
Layer in a jar slit-side up and rest two to three days, tilted, so the last moisture weeps out.
- 5
Cover completely with olive oil and wait at least two weeks — patience is the real ingredient.
🍽 On your table
How this dish looks served for 8