Stuffed dried Turkish eggplant is the perfect Purim food

By Rob Eshman
March 12, 2025

My wife, Rabbi Naomi Levy, gave a sermon last Shabbat that changed my mind about Purim, a holiday I’ve never really liked. Dressing up annoys me. Most hamentashen disappoint me. With its costumes, carnivals and ear-splitting public readings, Purim always struck me as Jewish pre-K, something fun for the kids before the adults do Passover.

But Naomi had a different take.

In her sermon to Nashuva, the congregation she founded and leads, she recalled the moment two weeks ago when Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the White House and was asked by a reporter for a right-wing website why he wasn’t wearing a suit.

“I will wear a costume when this war is over,” Zelenskyy said, reiterating something he’s said many times in the three years since Russia invaded his country and starting trying to annihilate his people.

The world often hides its truths from us. Who could have suspected that inside a Jewish comedian lurked a Ukrainian warrior — certainly not Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy’s lack of a costume was his way of giving his troops, and his people, hope. Purim, Naomi said, brings us a world where nothing is what it seems, teaching us to look more deeply at our world — and into our souls — to see the truth, the strength, the hope that is often hidden.

The literal Hebrew translation of Megillat Esther, or Book of Esther, which is read on Purim, means the revealing of what is hidden. Esther conceals her Jewishness until Mordechai calls upon her to save the Jewish people. Haman conceals his plot to destroy the Jews. Even God is concealed — never explicitly mentioned in the text — only to be revealed in the faith and strength of the story’s heroes. Purim, said Naomi, is all about being able to see what is hidden.

OK, so maybe it’s not just a kiddie holiday.

That aspect of Purim, making us alert to what is hidden and what is revealed, also gave me a new perspective on the festive meal, or seudah, meant to be served on the holiday,

I grew up with the simple explanation that the triangle-shaped hamantaschen represented Haman’s three-cornered hat. But Purim wants us to look deeper. Jewish foods are relentlessly symbolic. Taschen means pockets in Yiddish — and what do pockets do? They conceal. On Purim, it turns out, there are many dishes Jews traditionally eat that conceal and reveal.

Ashkenazi Jews eat kreplach, dough pockets hiding bits of meat. Ukrainian and other Eastern European Jews eat holishkes, or stuffed cabbage rolls, and Sephardic Jews often serve any number of fresh stuffed vegetables.

Last week I discovered a dish, new to me, that is perfect for Purim: Turkish stuffed dried eggplant.

A Turkish market, Bolmart, opened in Marina Del Rey, California, not far from where I live in Venice. It sells not only stuffed peppers and eggplants, but strings of the actual dried eggplants and red peppers from which they are made. The strings are beautiful — Naomi used them as a centerpiece for an impromptu dinner party last week. I, meanwhile, dehydrated them and stuffed them with rice for our guests.

It’s a dish that’s famous in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, where dried vegetables are a specialty and where a small Jewish community flourished from the 16th century until the establishment of Israel.

Dried vegetables offer a more concentrated, earthy flavor. They are bite-sized, too, and easier to stuff — no coring required. In this recipe, I use a vegetarian rice stuffing, but many call for ground lamb or beef.

Who could suspect that after all these years, I’d find new meanings hidden in Purim — or a new dish with which to celebrate it?

Turkish stuffed dried eggplant and peppers

12 dried eggplant shells & 12 dried bell pepper shells

1 large onion, grated or finely chopped

1 cup rice, rinsed

½ cup bulgar wheat

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 tbsp. Turkish red pepper paste (biber salcasi)

1 tbsp. tomato paste

2 tbsp. pomegranate molasses

2 tbsp. olive oil (for the filling)

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. dried mint

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 to 3 cups water

1 teaspoon sumac

2 tbsp. olive oil (for cooking)

Instructions

• Cut the strings of the dried eggplants and peppers, if necessary, and place into a large bowl. Pour boiling water over them and leave for 4-7 minutes to rehydrate. They should be soft. Drain and immediately, and refill with cold water to retain their color and texture. When ready to use, drain again.
• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons. olive oil. Put in the onions and saute until soft, add garlic, pepper paste, tomato paste, parsley, spices, salt and black ground pepper to your taste. Saute 2 minutes, add rice and bulgar, saute a few more minutes. Add 2 cups of hot water and pomegranate molasses and mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook 20 minutes. Turn off heat, uncover, and let cool.
• Get a wide, heavy pan that will hold the pepper and eggplant standing up in one layer. Pour in 2 tbsp. olive oil. Spoon the filling mixture carefully into each pepper and eggplant, pressing gently for the filling to settle in. Leave about a half-inch space at top for the rice to cook expand. Place them up right, side by side, packed tightly.
• Mix the sumac with about 2 cups of water over and around the stuffed peppers and eggplants. The water should cover half the length of the stuffed vegetables. Over a medium high flame, bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and cook gently for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the flavors have a chance .

You can serve these warm, room temperature or cold. A sauce of yogurt, garlic and salt goes well with them.

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