It’s time to hold your end of summer picnic with our Savory Eggplant Jam and Homemade Crackers as the star. Making jam is a breeze with our easy step-by-step instructions. Plus, the addition of Homemade Crackers makes sure your recipe is farm-to-table in every aspect. You could even choose to substitute the Homemade Crackers with other fresh produce for dipping like carrots or zucchini. Just make sure you have a jar handy because you’re going to want to save every last drop!
Tips for Making Jam
Choose firm, ripe eggplants for the best flavor and texture when making our eggplant jam. If you want to remove some of the bitterness, you can peel and salt the eggplant before cooking. When cooking, be patient as eggplants can release a lot of water, so reducing it to a jam-like consistency may take time. You can also experiment with flavors beyond what we’ve suggested here. Add ingredients like various vinegars, citrus zest, or your favorite spices to enhance the taste. Eat your eggplant jam right away, or store covered tightly in the refrigerator up to about a week.
Savory Eggplant Jam with Homemade Crackers
Description
Elevate any snack plate with this eggplant jam.
Ingredients
- 3 medium eggplants, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon or allspice
- 1/8 tsp harissa
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Honey for garnish
- Homemade crackers (See below)
For the crackers:
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 6 tbsp cold butter
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
- Sesame seeds for sprinkling
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
Instructions
For the Jam
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Brush two baking sheets fairly well with olive oil and lay the diced eggplant on the baking sheets in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Bake the eggplant for about 25 minutes, stirring them on the baking sheets midway during baking.
- Once the eggplant pieces are cooked, put them in a large bowl with the garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon or allspice, harissa, and water. Mash them well with a fork or potato masher. (Not all the eggplant skins will break up into little pieces.)
- Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and cook the mashed eggplant mixture on low heat, stirring frequently so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom. It tends to stick a bit, but just scrape up those brown bits which might form on the bottom of the pan.
- Continue to cook the eggplant until it’s thick and most of the moisture is removed, about 20 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and let cook another minute, then remove from heat and add the parsley. When cool enough to taste, check and add a bit of salt and lemon juice. Serve drizzled with honey.
For the crackers:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt to the food processor and give a quick pulse to combine.
- Add 6 tablespoons of cold butter a few small pats at a time, and pulse to combine then. Then, while running the food processor, slowly pour in vegetable oil.
- While the food processor is pulsing, add water a little bit at a time until a dough starts to form into a ball. You may not need to full 1/3 of a cup. Do not add it all at once.
- On a floured surface, roll dough out as thin as you can with a rolling pin. Add, adding more flour if needed when it sticks.
- Use cutter to cut the dough out into long thin crackers. Continue to roll out dough and cut out crackers until all the dough is used up and place them on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Poke holes in each of the crackers, brush the cracker cut outs with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Recipes and Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by Dave Bryce
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