Burnt Eggplant + Mograbieh Soup

from Jerusalem: A Cookbook
via Anne Halsted

serves 4

5 small eggplants (about 2½ pounds total)

Sunflower oil for frying

1 onion, sliced (1 cup)

1 tablespoon cumin seeds, freshly ground

1½ teaspoons tomato paste

2 large tomatoes, skinned and diced (12 ounces)

1½ cups chicken or vegetable stock

1⅔ cups water

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

⅓ cup mograbieh or fregola, or giant couscous

2 tablespoons shredded basil, or 1 tablespoon chopped dill

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by burning three of the eggplants.  Score the eggplants with a knife in a few places, about ¾ inch deep and place them on a baking sheet under a hot broiler for about an hour.  Turn them around every 20 minutes and continue to cook even if they burst and break.  Remove the eggplants from the heat and cool.  When cool enough to handle, cut an opening along each and scoop out the soft flesh, dividing it with your hands into long thin strips.  Discard the skin.  Drain the flesh in a colander for at least an hour.

Cut the remaining eggplants into ⅔-inch dice.  Heat about ⅔ cup oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  When it is hot, add the eggplant dice.  Fry for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring often, until colored all over; add a little more oil if needed so there is always some oil in the pan.  Remove the eggplant, place in a colander to drain, and sprinkle with salt.

Make sure you have about 1 tablespoon oil left in the pan, then add the onion and cumin and sauté for about 7 minutes, stirring often.  Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute before adding the tomatoes, stock, water, garlic, sugar, lemon juice, 1½ teaspoons salt, and some black pepper.  Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Meanwhile bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil and add the mograbieh or alternative.  Cook until al dente, drain and refresh under cold water. Transfer the burnt eggplant flesh to the soup and blitz to a smooth liquid with a handheld blender.  Add the mograbieh and fried eggplant, keeping some to garnish at the end, and simmer for another 2 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Serve hot, with the reserved mograbieh and fried eggplant on top and garnished with basil or dill.

Mograbieh, or giant couscous, is a pea-sized grain, used in Middle Eastern cooking. 

This soup is absolutely delicious and not as hard as it might sound.