Eggplant Braised with Trahana

This trahana dish is one of my truly absolute favorites, and I first tasted it many years ago in Heraklion, Crete. It’s one of the most delicious “peasant” dishes of Greece, born out of necessity with humble ingredients stretched a long way.

A little bit about trahana: this is cracked wheat or bulgur, typically cooked with dairy then sun-dried and broken into chunks, or passed through a sieve to make little pebbles. It’s an ancient food, one of the oldest foods in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is always made at the end of the summer when there is enough of a breeze and enough heat to dry the morsels quickly but also because the summer is a time, in the agrarian cycle, when there is an excess of milk (so this is a great way to preserve milk!). It’s found in various forms and by various names all over the eastern Mediterranean. Dairy-based trahana comes in two types: sweet and sour. Sweet is made with whole milk, typically goat’s milk, and sour trahana is made with yogurt or buttermilk. It creates a complex flavor, and it’s deliciously tart!

½ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil or more as needed
1 large onion coarsely chopped
3 Italian or Sicilian eggplants trimmed and cut into 1 ½-inch / 3 ¾-cm chunks or cubes
2 potatoes peeled and cut into cubes slightly smaller than the eggplant pieces
2/3 cup dry white wine
3 garlic cloves coarsely chopped
3 medium-sized tomatoes grated
1 cup Cretan xinohontros or sour trahana
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh parsley and mint

Find the recipe here: https://www.dianekochilas.com/eggplan...