Marinated Eggplant Slices

This recipe, which is a favorite among our family and friends, I learned from my neighbor Saku, who lives upstairs.  Years ago, when shops in Jerusalem were open only till 7 PM – and there were no supermarkets open all night as there are today, we neighbors used to come to each other for a cup of sugar,  an onion, or whatever.

Once when I went upstairs to ask for something or other, our neighbor was making marinated zucchini; she gave me the recipe, and told me that eggplant can be made the same way.

So, I immediately adopted her recipe, plus the eggplant version which I am including here, and these recipes have remained in the family for over 30 years now.

Ingredients:

• 1 nice eggplant – not too fat, because we want as few seeds as possible.
• dried oregano
• crushed garlic
• salt
• canola oil
• 1/2 cup plain white vineagar
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Preparation:

1. Slice eggplant into rather thin slices lengthwise. Cut each slice down the middle, lengthwise. Alternatively, you can slice the eggplant into rather thin rounds.
2. Place in colander, and sprinkle salt on eggplant slices. Leave in colander for an hour or two. The salt will help remove any bitterness from the eggplant.
3. Rinse and totally dry the slices, by leaving in colander, or with the help of clean paper towels.
4. In large frying pan, heat oil. It is better to use a generous amount of oil. This insures that the eggplant will NOT ABSORB a lot of oil. If you put only a little amount of oil, the eggplant will absorb more – this doesn’t sound logical, but so it is.
5. Fry the eggplant slices on both sides, until they are a nice, deep golden brown color. Remove from pan, and place on paper towel to drain any excess oil.
6. Place in glass dish. Sprinkle salt, dried oregano, and crushed garlic on every few slices that you place in the glass dish, until you finish frying them all..
7. When finished frying  all the eggplant slices, pour out any excess oil from the frying pan, and then put in 1 teaspoon sugar and half a cup of white vinegar. Bring quickly to a boil and pour over the fried eggplant slices.  Store in a closed glass jar, in the refrigerator.
8. Keeps for up to 2 weeks in closed glass jar, in refrigerator.