Zaalouk — Eggplant Salad

Zaalouk is a quintessential Moroccan cooked salad (salata matboucha) with origins in the everyday home cooking of the Amazigh (Berber) people. The technique of charring eggplant over an open flame or gas burner, then mashing it with tomatoes and spices, is ancient — a method of preservation and cooking that predates modern kitchen equipment. Zaalouk is always served at room temperature as part of the Moroccan "spread" of small salads that precedes every main meal. It is traditionally mashed with a fork, never blended, to preserve its rustic texture.