Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish consisting of a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, with capers in a sweet and sour sauce.
Sicilian Caponata
Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish consisting of a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, with capers in a sweet and sour sauce.
Ingredients
- 5 (or 4 big) eggplants
- 15 green olives, pitted and halved
- 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 140 gms – 5 oz. concentrated tomato paste
- 2 big onions, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 150 ml – 5 oz. red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Cut the aubergines in cubes (3×3 cm – 1.2×1.2 inches) and put them in a bowl with cold salty water for half an hour (1). Then, pat them dry (2) and deep fry them in hot vegetable oil (3). When ready, put them in a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
- Blanch the chopped celery in salty boiling water.
- Chop the onion, put it in a frying pan and cover it with 1/2 glass of water (1) and cook it until the water dries up (2). Then add 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (3) and sauté the onions in it for a minute or 2 (4). Add the tomato concentrate (5), capers, olives and blanched celery with a little of its reserved cooking water and cook the sauce for 5 minutes (6).
- Add the fried eggplant cubes and mix gently (1-2-3). Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and add it to the caponata (4). Cook it for a few minutes on a medium-high flame, then put the fire off and let it cool down.
- It is best eaten at room temperature or cold, and it tastes even better after a day or two.
Recipe and Photo credit: Manuela Zangara is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
