It's not really caviar, of course. It's not eggs and it hasn't been prematurely removed from the belly of a fish. I don't know how this dish got it's name but it seems to be in common use, so we might as well use it too. There's marrow caviar too, by the way.
One of the defining features of any vegetable 'caviar' is that it has a fairly smooth, homogenous consistency. A bit like baby food. The rule for achieving this consistency is basically the more you cook it, the sloppier it gets, although a food processor would come in handy as a short-cut. I don't go crazy over baby food. In this recipe, I'm going to explain it as I usually do it, the result of which should be 'soft, but with texture'. That's how I like it.
Ingredients
About a kilo of aubergines
4 tomatoes
1 green pepper
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
A half teaspoon dried mint
A third of a teaspoon dried thyme
A third of a teaspoon chilli powder
A pinch of cinnamon
Salt
Chop the onion, green peppers, garlic and tomatoes. Fry the onion in oil until it softens then add the pepper and fry for a further minute or two. Add the garlic then quickly cut up the aubergines into cubes of about 2cm. As soon as you've cut up one aubergine, add the pieces to the pan and stir. This will prevent them going brown in the air.
Stir well to coat everything in oil, then add the tomatoes, lemon juice and seasonings. Stir again and cover the pan. Cook on a fairly low heat for about twenty minutes.
Aubergine caviar can be eaten as soon as it is cooked, but
it is usually served cold, with bread and butter.