This dish is traditionally served cold as an appetizer salad at Russian feast. You can eat it hot, as a dip or sandwich spread. I eat it with a fork along with other appetizer dishes.
Ingredients
One large eggplant or 2 medium sized eggplants
¼ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt and
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 heaping Tablespoons of tomato paste (or you can substitute a large fresh or roasted tomatoes for a chunkier texture)
1 to 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
Optional: 3 Tablespoons of roasted red pepper, chopped (this gives the dip some sweetness)
Instructions
Roast the eggplant buy oiling the skin, scoring it top to bottom 4 times and putting it on a parchment lined pan at 400 degrees for 50 minutes for a large eggplant. Check on smaller eggplants after 40 minutes. It's done when a knife pierces through the eggplant flesh easily. It should have a buttery texture.
Peel off the skin or cut in half and scoop out the flesh.
Saute onions in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Add in garlic and saute for a minute or two. Add in the eggplant pulp, the tomato paste and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (or substitute a whole tomato for the paste if you want a chunkier texture).
Chop up the roasted red pepper and add to the eggplant mixture on the stove.
Add salt and paprika and mix ingredients together with a spatula as you stir and cook. Simmer on medium low heat until the moisture evaporates. As the water evaporates the dish tastes stronger and stronger.
Taste it as it's cooking and if you want more intense flavors cook down the liquid some more. I like my eggplant caviar to be thick and concentrated.
If you're a spice person you can add some cayenne pepper or chopped hot peppers to this dish. It's not traditional but I always customize my dishes to my taste.
Recipe by Paleo Kitchen Lab at http://paleokitchenlab.com/2014/08/03/eggplant-caviar-russian-babaganoush/