Egyptian Recipe for Fried Eggplant with Tomato Sauce – Mesa’ah

Mesa’ah is a very common dish in Egypt, and it varies slightly from home to home. Mesa’ah is a fried eggplant in a garlicky spicy tomato sauce. It’s eaten with fresh pita bread, and it’s absolutely delicious. This Egyptian fried eggplant recipe with tomato sauce is definitely worth trying!

Ingredients for Egyptian Mesa’ah Fried Eggplant Recipe

• Eggplant: The best eggplant to use for this recipe is purple eggplant like the ones below.
• Garlic: Always use the fresh stuff!
• Tomatoes: You will need beefsteak or Roma tomatoes.
• Vinegar: This recipe has just a slight amount of distilled white vinegar.
• Tomato paste: Any tomato paste will do.
• Olive oil: Alternatively you can use a high smoke point oil like canola oil or vegetable. I prefer to use olive oil because I like how it tastes. Olive oil has a lower smoke point, so if using olive oil be mindful of the heat on the pan.
• Spicy pepper: If you like some heat, you can add a few small spicy peppers.
• Salt and pepper

You will also need:

• Chef’s knife and cutting board
• Wide nonstick frying pan
• Spatula
• Blender

What is the Healthiest Way to Cook Eggplant?

You can steam eggplant or roast eggplant without oil. My American grandfather always said, “No fat, no taste” when we were grocery shopping as he added Little Debbie snacks to the grocery cart. My opinion is, let’s use fat but in a smart way.

So I pan fry this eggplant with a little bit of EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil). I like cooking it this way because I can control how much oil is being used for the dish. If you don’t measure out the oil, you will be surprised at how much oil actually gets soaked into the eggplant.

You want just enough olive oil to help cook and flavor the eggplant, but not too much where you are biting into a greasy eggplant. That’s why it’s important to use a nonstick frying pan for this recipe.

Another way to control the oil absorption into the eggplant is by pan roasting the eggplant in the oven. I use a pastry brush, and I brush the olive oil on both sides of the eggplant before putting it into the oven. If you roast the eggplant, you need to flip the eggplant over halfway through the cooking process.

Can You Eat the Skin of Purple Eggplant?

Yes! The outer skin of purple eggplant can be eaten, although it may have a chewy and tough texture.

Want Another Recipe for Fried Eggplant?

When my husband makes mesa’ah, he usually makes this fried eggplant dish with garlic as well. Basically, you are killing two birds with one stone by frying a little bit extra eggplant.

To make this garlic fried eggplant, just mash 4 garlic cloves with 1/2 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of salt. Mash 1 tbsp of fresh green pepper (it can be spicy pepper or bell pepper) into the mashed garlic paste. And spread the garlicky love over the fried eggplant pieces.

We like to eat this fried eggplant with our baked falafel sandwiches. Another way to this eggplant is just with some fresh pita bread.

Other Egyptian Breakfast Recipes

• Ful Toast
• Homemade Ful from Scratch
• Ta’ameya
• Homemade pita bread

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