Georgian aubergine rolls filled with a sharp creamy walnut-garlic filling flavoured with Khmeli Suneli.
I’ve never been good with geography, particular maps, I don’t recall studying the globe in great detail at school however, I do remember studying farming, the water cycle and river systems.
Now I’m slowly learning the whereabouts of countries and continents whilst teaching my eldest Hamza. We finished a jigsaw puzzle of the world map yesterday. We were both thrilled with what we had achieved, missing that 1 last piece of the arctic that was misplaced in the first 3 days of having the puzzle didn’t seem to matter, much.
Onto these Georgian (not period, not state but country) aubergine rolls – they are all the things you want in a vegetarian possibly even vegan? mouthful i.e. meaty without the meat!
I love aubergine also known as eggplant in the US it’s such a versatile vegetable whether fried or baked you just can’t go wrong (in my opinion).
I came across these Georgian aubergine rolls before I made my middle eastern aubergine rolls but, with such a good name but hard to find herb blend as Khmeli Suneli it took me a little while longer to get around to making these.
Khmeli Suneli literally means ‘dried herbs’. This caucus herb blend has crushed herbs such as dill and the more unusual marigold flower petals . If you’re in the UK the best deal to buy Khmeli Suneli online, I found is here but that is only if you buy other things along with your Khmeli Suneli as the flat rate shipping fee is £6! and if you fancy giving a homemade Khmeli Suneli blend a try look here.
The herb blend is not overwhelming and gentle on the palate especially in this dish it was very hard to pinpoint the individual flavour, the original recipe says khmeli suneli to taste well I put a teaspoon and as I said it was struggling to come through the creamy (no cream involved), sharp from vinegar walnut-garlic filling.
To see just how to make these georgian aubergine rolls watch (turn sound off) this Gastrolab video below
In the video saffron is an ingredient but you don’t actually see the chef adding it to the stuffing therefore I didn’t either as I’ve already used a lot of the most expensive spice this month in another recipe which I have coming up on the blog next week in shaa Allah so it’s definitely optional in this dish.
The hardest part of making this dish is not the walnut filling as I thought it would be but cutting the aubergine into even slices! if you have a gadget that will do that for you, use it.
Tip: when frying the aubergine slices, don’t go putting all the 100 ml olive oil into the pan, divide up your oil for however many batches of aubergine slices you think you have, aubergine is a good oil sucker! you will find however much oil you put in aubergine will soak it up like a sponge only to release it later on and if you’re anything like me you don’t want to waste expensive extra virgin olive oil.
I enjoyed making and eating these Georgian aubergine rolls they are meaty without the meat, nutty without the crunch, creamy without the cream and sharp from vinegar, I’m out of without the’s. They would go down really well as a starter, side or main depending on your need.
Ingredients
- 500 grams aubergine
- For the stuffing:
- 1 cup walnuts
- 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 5 sprigs coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon (to taste) khmeli suneli herb blend
- salt, to taste
- 2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 glass boiled water
- For frying:
- 100ml olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Grind walnuts between 2 sheets of grease proof paper using a rolling pin or in a large pestle and mortar.
- Add garlic, coriander leaves, ground coriander khmeli suneli and salt, continue to crush together.
- Gradually add about 1/2 glass boiled water until the mixture is sour cream consistency and then stir in the vinegar, set aside.
- Cut aubergine lengthways to slices 0.5cm thick.
- Divide oil and aubergine slices up into batches, pour some oil into pan and then fry batches of aubergine slices to a golden crust. Remove slices and leave to drain on paper towels.
- Spread stuffing on each aubergine slice and then fold it into a roll. Garnish each roll with a coriander leaf and serve.
