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[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Look at these baby eggplants. I love them so much.
They're so tasty and they're great for stuffing.
First we're gonna remove the upper part, okay?
As you can see here.
And now we're exposing the eggplant itself.
And we're just gonna go in and mark a circle.
Now after marking, you just got start going in and taking out the inside — you know — the seeds.
After you're empty it in a straight way...
You see how it has a curve here?
So you have to go in an angle, a little bit, so you can empty also this side.
[Chef Einav Gefen] The belly? [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Yes.
You're so good in this.
After that....
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] [Speaking Hebrew] [Chef Einav Gefen] Thank you.
So, Nof, we have some rice that we soaked for an hour and rinsed.
[Chef Einav Gefen] We just strained it — we didn't rinse it. [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] This is pepper paste
[Chef Einav Gefen] Sweet pepper. [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Sweet peppers.
[Chef Einav Gefen] Just regular red pepper.
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] And here we have walnuts.
So, if you can —like— just chop them really roughly here....
And then add them to the rice. And here I'm separating some mint.
I'm separating the leaves from the stems.
[Chef Einav Gefen] Wow. How many cloves? [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Three? Four?
So, I'm crushing the garlic into here.
So, now after we had, eh.... We have here the rice, the mint....
the nuts, the garlic, and the pepper paste.....
We're adding some pomegranate molasses.
Okay, I want you to taste this because this is homemade....
And it's totally different.
[Chef Einav Gefen] So good. [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] It's soooooooo good.
We're gonna add cumin. So, some cumin goes in.
And black pepper.
And some chili powder.
[Chef Einav Gefen] Here it's called "shotta," but we call it Aleppo, yeah.
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Just a little bit of olive oil.
Maybe just a little bit more. Just for good luck. (laughs)
So, meanwhile Einav, we want to make the juices.
So, as you saw here, we have sumac.
[Chef Einav Gefen] I'm gonna just soak it in some hot water,
and this will give great sour taste to our dish.
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] We're gonna start stuffing our pepper — our eggplants.
So look at this nice method. You just hold the eggplant....
And you go with this finger and you just push.
Okay?
And you don't need to fill it up till the end.
You just leave about half a centimeter or one centimeter....
And that's it. It's ready.
[Chef Einav Gefen] Okay, and that's important, right? Because the rice, obviously.... [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] The rice is gonna puff. Okay?
[Chef Einav Gefen] And it's too stuffed, then it's just gonna explode? [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Yes.
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Take with your hand and push. Push.
[Chef Einav Gefen laughing] I had the wrong finger! I tried to do it with my right hand!
[Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Exactly.
So, look at the sumac. It's been soaking. And now we're gonna strain the sumac water.
See, when it's real sumac....
The water is not that red.
So now we take this. And this is the main juices that we're gonna use....
Like everything in life, this has to look good.
So, we're gonna add the few mint.... Roses....
[Chef Einav Gefen] Rose petals? [Chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel ] Yes, dried rose petals.
It will give it a really nice taste.
We're gonna mix the pepper paste....
....with some cumin.
Some of the chili paste, black pepper and salt. Okay?
We want the water level to be almost half of the height of the eggplants, okay?
So, we're gonna take this and we're gonna add it in.
So, as I told you, it's gonna be halfway.
You're gonna give it some olive oil.
We're gonna put it on high heat.... You know, until it boils.
Then we're gonna lower the heat and let it cook for about an hour and a half.
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