Sicilian vegetable caponata from eggplant

Step-by-step cooking

1. Step 1:

   

   In the photo, the main products that you will need to prepare Caponata Sicilian vegetable from eggplant. Wash all vegetables well under running water.

2. Step 2:

   

   Cut the eggplant into medium pieces. If you have large blue ones, then first cut them into circles, then each circle into 2 or 4 parts. Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and fill with water. Now eggplants that are bitter are less and less common, but I advise you not to neglect this step, because after soaking in salt water, when frying eggplants absorb significantly less oil.

3. Step 3:

   

   Remove the seeds and stalk from the peppers, cut into strips or feathers as in the photo. For the brightness and beauty of the dish, it is recommended to use peppers of different colors.

4. Step 4:

   

   Cut the celery into rings no more than 3 millimeters wide.

5. Step 5:

   

   Heat vegetable oil for frying eggplants in a frying pan, determine the amount "by eye". Drain the salt water from the eggplants and squeeze them slightly. Add the blue ones to the pan and, stirring constantly, fry until golden brown (it will take about 5 minutes). Then put the finished eggplants on paper napkins to get rid of excess oil.

6. Step 6:

   

   Peel the onion and garlic. Rinse in cold water. Chop the onion with feathers, and finely chop the garlic. The recipe used red onion, you can take a regular onion.

7. Step 7:

   

   Cut tomatoes into cubes. If you do not accept the presence of tomato skins in the finished dish, then it can be removed beforehand. To do this, pour boiling water over the tomatoes for a minute or two, and then easily remove the skin from them. The recipe used ordinary tomatoes and cherry tomatoes (they are sweeter and richer in the winter season).

9. Step 8:

   

   Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan with thick edges. Add pepper and celery to the hot oil. Stir constantly, fry for about 5 minutes.

10. Step 9:

    

    Then add the onion and garlic, continue stirring. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.

11. Step 10:

    

    Add tomatoes to the pan. Add salt (carefully with salt, because olives and capers, which will be added at the end of cooking, are already salty). Also add a pinch of sugar, allspice and ground red pepper, chili pepper to taste, dry basil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (5% vinegar was used in the recipe). Stir and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

12. Step 11:

    

    Send eggplants to the vegetables.

13. Step 12:

    

    Followed by olives and capers (olives can be cut into circles or halves if desired). Mix everything carefully again, cover with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

14. Step 13:

    

    Remove the finished dish from the stove and let it brew for a while under the lid.