Matbucha with Eggplant and Cocktail Tomatoes

I got to know this wonderful recipe at a Neni cooking class with the very great Haya Molcho. Basically, Matbucha is Arabic and means something like "cooked salad", Molcho's cookbooks and restaurants have their own variant - which I have modified a bit to suit my taste. I use a Le Croisette (cast-iron classic), but there are also other shapes that can be covered for the oven - or you can let it simmer on the stove for about 2 hours.

Cut the cocktail tomatoes crosswise and put them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Then put in a vat with ICE (!) Water and peel. Quarter the tomatoes (they're pretty small anyway). You can also take normal tomatoes, then cut eighths and remove the stalk.

Wash the aubergine and cut into small cubes. Pepperoni - or maybe a chilli, whatever you like, wash, core, dice. Peel the garlic and dice finely. Preheat the oven (top / bottom heat) to 180 degrees.

Heat the cast iron pot on the stove (the heaviest possible base is recommended if you don't have one and use a "normal" pot). Put the olive oil in the hot pot and sweat the chili peppers / chilli cubes before they turn color, add the garlic chopped / pressed. Stir briefly - but again before it turns color - add the aubergine cubes. Stir well and after about 30 seconds add the sliced ​​tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes on a high flame, stirring again and again.

After the 5 minutes, reduce the heat, simmer on a low flame for about 30 minutes and stir again and again. Then in the oven, covered, for about 2.5 hours. Alternatively, let it simmer on the stove, not covered, also about 2.5 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper, allow to cool and pour into sealable glasses.

It keeps for a long time in the refrigerator. Matbucha is very versatile, like a spicy jam - we eat it with bread, with pasta, as a grill side dish, to refine some dishes - it is really delicious and definitely worth the effort. Best to produce in large quantities and store or give away :-). And you know, all quantities can be changed and exchanged according to taste, I'm not the biggest garlic fan - the original recipe contains considerably more of it. Sometimes I use a red chili instead of chili peppers, zucchini are sure to go fine instead of aubergines ...