alt Hacker NewsMy wife and I started something during Covid where we'd pick a random city in the world (there are websites that do this for you), look at the region's popular/common dishes and pick one to cook for the weekend. Most recent was Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
We would also sometimes make flatbreads from the area but man is it messy to do in your own place with flour flying around everywhere. We do make the flatbreads sometimes but it's usually easier to just buy frozen paratha from the Indian store.
Biggest surprise - everything's stew.
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> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
That sounds good. Makes me think of hunkar begendi.
> from the Caspian Sea area
That's a funny way of saying Gilan, Iran. The dish was invented by (and is named after) Mohammad Ghasem Khan Vali, the governer of Gilan province.
I wonder how close that dish is to the Indian one Baingan Bharta (it lacks eggs).
> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
Eggplant is one of those incredible veggies that seemingly not a lot of people know what to do with. You can bake it on a grill or your cooktop stove to give it that amazing smokey taste. I often eat it as-is without adding anything else but pairing with eggs takes it to the next level. There is another dish from that same general region called Ajapsandali which is probably one of the tastiest breakfast meals you'll ever eat if you like eggplant.