Skip to main content
Salad

Yemeni Eggplant Salad with Currants

A Yemeni salad of sautéed eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and spices, finished with mint, cilantro, and currants.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Yemeni Eggplant Salad with Currants

Time30-40 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggplant

  1. Cut unpeeled eggplant into 3/4‑inch cubes and place the cubes in a strainer and sprinkle with salt, then drain for about 30 minutes.

Make the tomato base

  1. Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a pan and sauté onions for about 5‑10 minutes, until golden.

  2. Add tomatoes and spices, cooking until tomatoes and onions are soft, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add garlic and currants, stir and transfer to a bowl.

Cook and combine

  1. Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pan and cook eggplant for about 30‑40 minutes until tender.

  2. Add the cooked eggplant to the tomato mixture.

  3. Add mint and cilantro and combine well.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

Chill and serve

  1. Let the salad chill for a day before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

314Calories
5 gProtein
15 gFat
46 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Eggplant + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Provides the bulk of the salad and becomes soft and creamy when cooked until tender.
Onions
Soften and turn golden, adding sweetness and a savoury base to the salad.
Tomatoes
Break down into a moist sauce that binds the salad together.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows during cooking and resting.
Olive oil
Carries the spices and cooks the onions and eggplant, adding richness and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cooking the eggplant until fully tender. Eggplant flesh can stay spongy or watery if undercooked, while cooking it long enough collapses its cells so it becomes creamy and absorbs the sauce. Cooking it thoroughly in oil also helps it hold flavour.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, olive, onion, tomato, cumin, pepper, garlic):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, olive, onion, tomato, cumin, pepper, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesChicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes