Serdakh

 

 

 

Olia sampled this simple yet satisfying, silky vegetarian dish in Lankaran in the southeastern region of Azerbaijan.  She says she's  never cooked aubergines in butter before, so it was a revelation to discover that clarified butter was the key, along with a copious amount of roughly chopped and caramelized garlic. Of course you can use oil instead, but clarified butter makes the dish taste so unusual but strangely not heavy or buttery in a French way. Make a big pot and eat it hot or warm with a hunk of lovely bread and bunches of herbs.

Ingredients

(Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side)

8–10 baby aubergines or 3 large

100g (3½oz) Clarified Butter (see below or page 53)

10 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

6  tomatoes, halved across the equator, or some small, colourful tomatoes, left whole, or a mixture of both

200ml (7fl oz) water, vegetable or

Chicken stock

Pinch of caster sugar, if needed

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground

Black pepper

To serve

Lavash flatbreads or any other flatbread

1 small bunch of  dill, coriander, or basil

Method

If you are using baby aubergines, make 2 incisions in the shape of a cross in their rounded end as if you were going to quarter them length ways, but don’t cut into them further. I leave the stalks intact, as they look so pretty. If using large aubergines, trim and slice them about 15mm (⅝ inch) thick.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter in a heavy-based flameproof casserole dish over a medium heat and fry the garlic while you keep stirring it. You want it to turn deep golden and stay juicy, but not become dry or burnt. Tilt the pan so that the butter and garlic collect in one corner – this way you will confit it. It will take about 2–5 minutes. The smell will be incredible as the garlic loses its harshness and becomes soft, sweet and gently caramelized. Take the garlic out and set aside. Do not wipe out the pan unless it looks burnt.

Heat another 2 tablespoons of the Clarified Butter in the same pan over a medium-high heat and fry the aubergines until they are well browned all over. Be patient and the skin will blister and the white flesh will soften, but it may take about 10 minutes – they really need to start collapsing. Take them out and set aside; you can leave them to drain over kitchen paper if you like. Again, do not clean the pan.

Heat another 2 tablespoons of the Clarified Butter in the same pan, add the tomatoes, cut side down, and cook them just on that side over a high heat until they catch some colour and the skins look wrinkled. If the tomatoes are ripe, use a pair of tongs to lift the skins off the tomatoes and discard. If they aren’t, you may need to flip them, cook on the skin side briefly and then take the skins off. Sometimes I’m too lazy to take the skins off at all.

Now return the aubergines and garlic to the pan and add the liquid. Do try using chicken stock if you are not vegetarian, as it adds an extra layer of flavour. Water is absolutely fine, though, if you want the dish to remain as hassle free as possible. Season with salt and pepper (but go easy on the salt if you salted the aubergines previously) and add a pinch of sugar if your tomatoes are not the sweetest. Cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half and the aubergines are properly cooked through.

Serve with pieces of torn lavash or any other flatbread, or regular bread, and some sprigs of fresh herbs. This is also really lovely eaten with simply cooked rice or sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.

Clarified butter

In India, the ancient holistic healing system of Ayurveda prescribes a shot of ghee, aka clarified butter, as a detox agent for purifying the body, while in Azerbaijan, they love it so much that they serve their plov with extra for pouring over. The impoverished Molla Nasreddin, a satirical fictional character from Azerbaijani classical literature famous for mocking rich folk, and

his wife were hungry one evening, so the story goes, when he asked, “To make a good plov, wife, what do you need?”. The wife retorted, “We don’t have even enough money for bread!” To which he replied, “Why don’t we just dream about it… what would we need?” “1kg of rice, 1kg of ghee and 1kg of meat,” his wife said. “Darling, what are you talking about,” he exclaimed, “1kg of ghee to 1kg of rice – that is outrageous!” “Yes,” she countered, “We are poor in reality, so just let me dream of that lovely fatty, buttery plov.” When you encounter plov recipes in this book, the quantities for clarified butter are very close to this. You can use less, but if like Molla’s wife, like me, don’t dream: go for it!

Makes approx. 900g (2lb)

Ingredients

1.5kg (3lb 5oz) unsalted butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 100°C (212°F/lowest possible Gas mark).

Put the butter into a pan and leave in the oven, uncovered, for the whole day. Every 2 hours, skim off the foam from the surface of the butter and discard, then pour off some of the clear liquid from the top into a container, making sure that the milk solids remain in the base of the pan.

Store the clarified butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator, where it will keep for up to about 2 weeks.

Alternatively, you can use this quick method, as we did when I worked in restaurants, but there is a greater risk of the milk solids sticking to the base of the pan:

Put the butter into a large saucepan over a low heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming off the foam as it rises to the surface.

Pour off the clear liquid into a container, leaving the milk solids behind in the pan. Store as above.

Tip

The remaining butter solids (called ayran in Azerbaijan) are amazing mixed into a bread dough such as my Ossetian Pie Dough.