This Romanian Roasted Eggplant Salad (Salata De Vinete) is a delicious summer salad/spread that can be served on fresh bread with tomatoes and sometimes Feta cheese.
Jump to:
Eggplant Salad (Salata de vinete)
Many European and Middle Eastern cuisines use eggplants in their recipes. From baking to roasting and grilling, eggplants are versatile vegetables that can be cooked in many ways.
In Romania, one of the most traditional foods you can find around is this eggplant salad/spread that is made primarily during the summer and served with bread, fresh tomatoes, and Feta cheese.
I noticed that people are sometimes intimidated by cooking eggplants, so here is an easy way to deal with them. If you like the babaganoush spread, you will also love this salad.
How to cook eggplants
There are different ways to cook eggplants. I have used all of them, and they all work. It all depends on your possibilities and the time of year.
However, each method affects the taste of the eggplant salad, and you will surely notice. Please take a look at the techniques I use: How To Cook Eggplants For Dips And Salads.
How to make a traditional Romanian eggplant salad
Step 1. After grilling, roasting, or baking the eggplants, let them cool, then carefully remove all the skin. Place the eggplants in a strainer and let them drain for about half an hour to one hour.
This step will remove the juice from the eggplant that is supposed to be bitter.
Step 2. Chop the eggplants on a wooden board with a unique wooden/plastic knife made especially for this purpose (if you are Romanian and have one, of course) or with a regular knife.
This is my special plastic knife, inherited from my mom, specially designed for chopping eggplants. A popular belief was that eggplants should not be touched with metal because they would oxidize, and the salad would not have a pretty color. I do not know if this is true, but using a regular knife should be OK. Most knives today are stainless steel.
Note: You could process the eggplants in the food processor, and the salad will then have more like a spread texture, which is delicious but not very authentic.
I prefer to chop the salad rather roughly so that I have something to chew on here and there, but the degree of chopping is totally up to you.
How to serve this salad
Dressing (Option 1): The traditional way of dressing the eggplant salad, the way most Romanians always did it, was with sunflower oil, diced onions, salt, and lemon juice or vinegar. Vinegar was used in the past, as lemons were less popular than they are today.
You can use olive oil, but the salad will not be authentic Romanian anymore. Traditionally, olive oil was not widely available, but sunflower oil was and still is very popular, as Romania is a big producer. My grandmother or my mother always used sunflower oil, and this is how I like it too.
Dressing (Option 2): Another way to dress this salad would be to add mayonnaise. While I was growing up, the mayo was added only when we had guests and special occasions.
Mashed garlic cloves are added instead of onion. We always used homemade mayonnaise, which made the salad a little bit more festive. However, if you don't want to make homemade mayo, your favorite brand would be just fine.
In both cases, serve the salad on fresh bread slices with tomato wedges and some feta cheese, if you like. I used green onions in my salad, but white or red onions would be fine too.
How To Store
Refrigerator: This delicious eggplant salad can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezer: If you choose to freeze the roasted eggplants, freeze them without the dressing. This is a great method of preserving eggplants for the winter, especially when you have a garden and a big eggplant crop. Grill them, remove the charred skin, drain them, and place them in freezer-safe bags. Freeze for up to 6 months.
What to Serve With Eggplant Salad
This delicious amazing salad is usually served as an appetizer or even as a side dish next to grilled meats and other vegetables. It is perfect for picnics, parties, or barbeques. Here are some ideas:
- Parisian Chicken Breast Schnitzel
- Lemon Thyme Chicken Thighs
- Roasted Boneless Pork Chops
- Fried Chicken Without Flour
- Romanian Meatballs (Chiftele)
- Mititei- Authentic Romanian Grilled Sausages Recipe
More Recipes With Eggplants
- Grilled Eggplant And Bell Pepper Salad
- Mediterranean Eggplant Salad
- Cedar Plank Salmon on Mixed Greens
- Romanian Vegetable Spread (Zacusca)
📖 Recipe
Traditional Romanian Roasted Eggplant Salad (Salata De Vinete)
Ingredients
- 3-4 large eggplants
- 1 small onion(yellow or red) or 2-3 green onions diced
- 3-4 tablespoons sunflower oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar
Instructions
Prepare the eggplants
If you use a fire grill:
- Bring the temperature of the grill between medium-low to low. (If it is too hot, the eggplants will burn on the outside before the inside is cooked. )
- Pierce the eggplants in few places and grill them on each side, turning them regularly until the skin is burned. Depending on their size, you should grill the eggplants somewhere between 20 to 40 minutes or until the skin is evenly charred and the eggplant collapses. The flesh should be really soft.
If you use a gas stove:
- Lay some aluminum foil around the stovetop's burners to make sure that the liquid released by the eggplants won’t cause too much of a mess.
- Turn regularly with a pair of tongs, making sure that the skin is burnt on all sides.
- Cook until the skin is evenly charred and the flesh of the eggplants very soft.
- Remove them from the fire and let them rest on a tray for few minutes before you start peeling the skin off.
If you use the oven:
- Preheat oven at 400F/200C.
- Place the eggplants on a baking tray lined with baking paper or tin foil and prick the eggplants with a fork several times.
- Bake them for about 45 minutes or until the flesh of the eggplants is very soft.
Make the eggplant salad:
- After grilling, roasting, or baking the eggplants, let them cool, then carefully remove all the skin. Place the eggplants in a sieve and let them drain for about half an hour to one hour. This step will remove the bitter juice from the eggplant.
- Chop the eggplant small or place it in a food processor. Pulse briefly 1-2 times to obtain a chunky eggplant texture.
- Place the eggplants in a bowl and add the sunflower oil, salt, lemon juice or vinegar, and chopped onion. Mix well.
- Serve on crusty fresh bread with tomatoes and Feta cheese.
If you prefer it with mayo:
- Chop the eggplant, then add the mayo and garlic cloves crushed. Taste for salt and pepper. (See Note below)
Jonata says
I make this recipe as well. I cut the eggplant in half and spray a disposable aluminum pan with spam or any oil. I then place the eggplant cut side down in my electric oven on Broil. About 20 minutes later the eggplant is charred Smokey and soft inside
I leave it in the oven on off for about 5 to 10 minutes so it’s really soft. Plus lemon salt chipped onions and I use olive oil.my mother used vegetable oil. All are delicious
The Bossy Kitchen says
That sounds perfect to me! It is an awesome dish!Thank you for visiting!
Christine says
I dind't know that this old word existed, it comes from the turkish patlican=eggplant (don't know how to explain how it is pronounced). Romania was part of the Osman empire.
The Bossy Kitchen says
True,however, the word potlagel doesn't exist in the Romanian language. "Patlagea", yes, potlagel no.:-)
abdalmalik h rezeski says
I'm not going to write a review. But if you like eggplant at all, this is so very tasty. I love this dish. That said, I was just now making it for the second time and my pyrex bake pan BLEW UP in the oven. Now I don't have eggplant and my oven is a mess of broken glass. Yikes.
Marian Soher says
I was 5 yrs old (just before WWII - that I spent hidden in the center of France, being Jewish!) and my favorite occupation was to sit in my grandma's kitchen and "help" her, tasting the final step of her recipes to make sure they were OK. They always were of course! Whether shorba de perisoare, burequitas, kaimac, fasulia, sarmale, or whatever, it always was delicious. Yet my favorite was salate de vinete. I tried to replicate it innumerable times during this lifetime but never got my grandma's recipe taste. I am now 88 yrs old and computer savvy. And OHHH MARVEL: Your recipe IS IT!!! It is not only the right taste but also a whole bunch of wonderful memories! Thank you so much!
The Bossy Kitchen says
Hi Marian, I got emotional reading your note and want to thank you for sharing part of your memories and life with me. I am so happy you found the recipe! Comments like yours show that my work is valuable to many people who know and appreciate good food. Thank you again for visiting!
RD says
Thanks for the background on the recipe. My mother was a Romanian Transylvanian Saxon who ended up in the U.S. later in life. This was a summer staple in our house and I've enjoyed sharing it with friends. We call it Patrangelli, which comes from the dialect spoken in her region. It was also occasionally referred to as Vinete (maybe because we have Hungarians in the family). The recipe calls for roasted eggplant (preferably on a charcoal grill), grated onion, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. I'll follow your advice and use Sunflower oil next time I make it. I did manage to find a wooden knife that I ordered from Europe. Mom said it was just like the ones they used back home, although she switched to a stainless steel chef's knife when she moved to the states (stainless to avoid the darkening from a carbon steel knife). The funny thing about Patrangelli is that although it's always tasty, it's never the same batch to batch and NEVER is as good as Mom's was.
The Bossy Kitchen says
Mom's food is always the best. It could be the love they put in the food, that makes the difference, right? :- )
It looks like my recipe is very close to your recipe. Also, you are right, each batch of eggplant salad is different, based on the quality of eggplants. Thank you so much for visiting and taking the time to write this lovely story. I truly appreciate it.
Anna C. says
I went to an event that had a similar dish and got hooked on it! Never had it before. The closest I got to baked eggplant was what my culture did: roasted eggplant and tomato slices with a mayo garlic spread usually served on bread or alone. I never got the recipe for it eggplant dip i fell in love with. Came across this recipe and figured I'd give it a shot. Wasn't sure how much garlic to add so of course me loving garlic I added a whole head...but to each their own! Also I squeezed fresh lemon juice and added about 1/2 a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar since I wasn't sure which option to go for. Also added some mayo to intensify and combine the flavors. WOW!!! This recipe is phenomenal after it has chilled over night or at least a couple hours for all the flavor to soak together. I will definitely be adding this as a staple to my party appetizers! I'm beyond happy I found this! Thank you so much!
Gabriela says
Hi Anna, I am so happy you liked the recipe and tried it. I just wanted to tell you that at the bottom of the article, inside the recipe card, you can find the amount of garlic you needed to add in the salad version made with mayo. Next time when you make this salad you can either add lemon juice or vinegar, not both. Also, I really encourage you to try it without mayo, just with diced onions, oil and vinegar or lemon juice. I revisited the article and added more links for eggplant recipes. You might find some other recipes to love, based on the same idea of roasted eggplant. Overall, I am just happy you took the time to come back and comment here. And that you made this recipe your own. Bravo, this is what I am looking for when I share this recipes! Thank you for visiting!