Икра

Did you think I was talking about the pricey stuff from Astrakhan?

This is eggplant caviar, or баклажановая икра (ee-KRA). Supposedly Russians call the dish "caviar" because the eggplant seeds look like fish roe. My mother-in-law makes tons of eggplant икра in the summer. On the evening before a cookout we always have the same discussion: will she make the икра at home in the morning, or wait and do it on the campfire? She is generally inclined to do the messy work at home and produce a clean, shiny bowl of roasted veggies when the guests arrive. Us youngsters always want her to roast the vegetables over the campfire. Done that way, the eggplant икра is smoky and smooth without being oily at all. When you make it on the stove, you have to add a lot of oil. It's still very good, but not transporting.

Here's how we make it at home with less oil. A little smoky, not hard:

Put whole eggplants (skins on) in a heavy skillet and roast on high heat, turning only when each side is totally charred and soft.

Peel the eggplants once they are cool enough to handle.

Put the soft eggplant goop back in the skillet. Add chopped tomatoes, bell peppers and onion. We usually use a ratio of 2:2:1:1 (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, onion). Add a little oil (olive, sunflower, you name it).

Cook on low heat for two or three hours, stirring every now and then, until the икра is a smooth paste.

The tomatoes will give off a lot of liquid at first. You have to let that liquid cook off.

Add salt and sliced garlic to taste. Once the икра is room temperature, add chopped cilantro and refrigerate!

On a linguistic note, the Japanese call salmon roe ikura, but apparently the Russian word икра (meaning any kind of fish roe) comes from good old Indo-European.