Of old friendships - "Mediterranean" zaalouk

Initially, this post was going to be dedicated to the weekend I spent in Paris with my friend Mathilde a month ago since it was there that I decided to make zaalouk.


However, a few weeks have gone past, I have just come back from my yearly trip to Panamá and I want to talk about that instead which is fine because I made zaalouk there too.
I shall talk of visiting Mathilde another time as there is another recipe associated to it.


But now to the matter at hand.
I spent my first few days at the Royal Decameron resort, guest at my oldest friend's beach house.
When I say "oldest friend" I mean "Oldest Friend".


Her grandparents moved next to mine when our mums were barely teenagers - The grandparents became friends.
Our mums became friends.
Years later her dad became one of my dad's best friends in Panamá.
There were nights out, nights in, weekends at the beach and it became even better when I. and I came along only 2 months apart and became friends ourselves.


So you see, I do mean it when I say she's my oldest friend.
And our friendship is one of those rare ones where we can spend months and on occasion a couple of years without being in touch and yet when we finally do talk again it's like we'd been hanging out just the day before.


I guess we are more like cousins than friends in that sense - Our relationship is something that is just part of our lives.
It's just there.


Anyway, we spent 3 days at the beach: I., me and her 2 awesome daughters.
Coolest kids I've ever met to be honest and as I listened to her stories about the past couple of years I realised what a strong woman she has become.
I watched her pour unconditional love over her children (have I mentioned how cool they are?) without being corny and boring.


I watched her laugh with them, tell them off and look on with pride as they sang Abba's Dancing Queen perfectly well or discussed bodily functions and the why and whynots of life.

She's doing a pretty good job of bringing them up on her own and for that I'm extremely proud of her.


Anyway, me being me I had decided to make my take on zaalouk (mine is more "Mediterranean" than Moroccan) for one of our dinners whilst out there, but never got round to it preferring graceless nibbling of mainly the kids' leftovers and then finally managed to get her try it when we got back to the city.


I believe she liked it and so did her mum and my cousin who hates aubergines.
Yeah, it was pretty good.


Mediterranean Zaalouk


Makes 2 cups circa


2 medium aubergines peeled and chopped into bite-size cubes
1 big tomato peeled and chopped into bite-size cubes
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh oregano roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
Juice 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste


Start by either steaming or boiling the aubergine until thoroughly soft - I personally prefer the former method, but it does take about 25/30 minutes, so I won't judge those who boil it (5-10 minutes) when in a rush.
Let it drain well.


Sauté the garlic in 1tbsp of the oil and the spices in a frying pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes.


Add the chopped tomato and sauté for a couple more minutes.


Reduce the heat to low, add the aubergine and let the mix cook for 15 minutes.


Roughly mash the mix in the pan with either a potato masher or a fork, add the lemon juice and the fresh herbs and leave on medium heat for another 5 minutes.


Have another go at it with the masher/fork and let it cool as desired (the beauty of this dip is that you can have it both warm and at room temperature).


Serve with the remaining oil on top and warm pitta bread.