Turkish BBQ salad

The summer sun and the smell of BBQ! Your garden is ready for an epic journey to Turkish cuisine. Quickly throw those vegetables on the BBQ! You won't regret it when you see your Turkish BBQ salad take the role of co-headliner next to a delicious piece of meat. Or would you dare omit that piece?

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Turkish

Keyword barbecue, bbq, bbq classic, classic II, eggplant, Grilled, Kamado Joe, lukewarm, Salad, soapstone, sweet bell pepper

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings 4 people

Equipment

BBQ with lid
Soapstone (optional) or platesetter and grill grate.

Ingredients

4 eggplants
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt
some twigs of oregano
3 sweet bell peppers
1 handful of fresh mint
1 pinch of cinnamon
lime juice and zest to taste
pepper and salt to taste
2 tbsp pomegranate bbq sauce recipe see smoky turkish meatballs
100 gr. feta cheese
1 tsp hazelnut oil or more to taste

Instructions

Pomegranate BBQ sauce

Before you start, make the pomegranate BBQ sauce according to this BBQ sauce recipe served on the smoky turkish meatballs. Keep aside.

For the vegetables

Halve the eggplants and carve the halves crosswise (without damaging the skin).
Fill the cavities with some oregano and sprinkle with the oil. Rub in well and sprinkle some salt on top. Set aside for ten minutes while heating up the BBQ to a medium heat (+-200°C).
If some moisture beads on top of the eggplants they are ready for the next step. Roast the eggplants on the soapstone with the flesh side down so they can colour nicely. If you don't have a soapstone you can do this directly above the coals (make sure you don't burn the flesh, this is bitter and unhealthy). Place the sweet bell peppers directly above the coals so they can colour nicely (this way you can easily remove the skin afterwards and they are full of flavour).
As soon as the flesh is coloured, let the eggplants cook a little longer on the indirect heat side skin side down until the flesh is done (+- 15 minutes).

Finishing

Pulk the flesh out of the eggplants and add to a bowl. Scrape the skin off the sweet pepper and then cut into strips. Add to the eggplants together with the chopped mint, cinnamon, lime sauce, hazelnut oil, pepper, salt and pomegranate BBQ sauce and stir well.
Crumble the feta cheese and stir into the lukewarm Turkish BBQ salad. Taste it all and if desired add some more of the seasoning until it is balanced for you.