Place the Aubergines over the flame and literally burn the skin till it develops a white fine salt like powder on the surface of it and the Aubergine is soft and sqwushy inside

Once the skins are burnt and charred, take the Aubergines off the flame and leave to cool down whilst you cut open your Pomegranate and remove the seeds

Take your Garlic leaves and finely chop them ... (the finer the better)

Cut open your Pomegranate and take out the fleshy seeds

Now peel off the skin of the Aubergine .. it will have gone crispy in parts and be more like chipping it off as well as the softer areas that you can peel off. Try to get most of the skin off but don’t worry at all if you end up with specs of skin still on the flesh .. it will all contribute to the flavour and be fine.

Next chop the Aubergine, (almost mince with a heavy knife) into tiny mashed up pieces and fry briskly over a high heat with the Turmeric and Garlic Salt and a sprinkle of Sea/Himalayan Pink or Kosher Salt. (Kosher Salt is milder in flavour)

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In a Pestle and Mortar (if big enough, if not take a bowl and the end of a rolling pin and bash with that), bash the Garlic Leaves and 80% of the Pomegranate Seeds together. Don’t get too carried away with bashing as you want to keep some of the pomegranate seeds whole so that they pop in your mouth.
Add the bashed Garlic leaves and Pomegranate seeds to the Aubergine that is still on the heat and then add the Pul Biber and Pomegranate Syrup
Mix them all in and allow to fry, scIn raping any caramelised aubergine that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan and re-incorporating it into the mix for added flavour
Adjust the Salt to suit your own taste
Spoon into your serving dish and garnish with the Summer Savoury and remaining Pomegranate Seeds

Noosheh Jan! xx

Now that you have seen the recipe itself, lets look at the qualities of Unani (the Ancient Persian Empire tradition of balancing foods that when eaten, heat or cool your blood) which this dish embodies.   Whilst I didn’t create it with the purpose of ensuring balance between hot and cold properties, it actually turns out to be balanced!

In the cold camp we have two of the three main ingredients: Aubergine and Pomegranite.   To offset their blood cooling aspects, we have the heat created from Oil in which to fry the Aubergine, Garlic, Salt, Pul Biber and Turmeric.   

I just love this aspect of Persian Cuisine! Whilst filling your stomach and making your tongue dance, the food also maintains a healthy balance in your system. As the Aubergine is the base of the dish and the Pomegranite Seeds and Pomegranite Syrup comes in at a close second, the relatively scant quantity of heat creating ingredients such as Cooking Oil, Turmeric, Salt and Pul Biber added to the larger amount of Garlic Leaves and Garlic Powder all combine when assessing its Unani characteristics, to create what I am pleased to discover is a very well balanced dish!

Look out for my future post on the Ancient food system of Unani!  The system of food combining that balances the heating and cooling effects of different types of food.