The best way to approach this super easy recipe is to prep all the ingredients in advance. The cooking process will need your attention and I would not want you to get distracted. Wash all the vegetables. Peel the skin of the eggplant, slice it lengthwise, quarter it inch thick and cube all the eggplants. You will have a big volume of eggplant. Place everything in a large container.

Chop 1 large onion (This process can be done in a food processor). Core the bell peppers and cut them in small cubes.

Eggplant spread loves garlic. Do not feel shy about using it. Since the garlic cooks down in the process, the spread will not smell of garlic at all. Chop garlic roughly.

I like to peel the skin of the tomato. It doesn’t digest well so if you feel like peeling it, do so. Otherwise just cut the tomato in small cubes.

You can virtually use any herbs you wish for this spread. Cilantro also suites it very well. My family is very fond of dill and I opted for using it in this recipe. I use both stem and the green part of herbs. Separate and chop up both sides of the dill and keep it aside.

Please use a large pot for frying the eggplant spread. Eggplants take a bit of space until they cook down. Add oil into the pot and heat it on medium high. Once the oil is well heated, add the chopped onions into the pot. Fry the onions until they are slightly golden brown.

Add chopped tomatoes into the pot and let it cook down a bit. Once the oil starts separating from tomatoes it will be a good time to add the paprika, pepper, and black pepper. When the spices cook in oil, they release their fragrance into the spread much better. Let the spices cook for a couple of minutes.

Add chopped up garlic in the pot and cook for a minute or so.

Incorporate chopped up dill stalks and bell peppers into the pot and saute for about 3 minutes.

Add all of the cubed eggplants into the pot. Notice how full the pot is in the photo. This is the reason why you need a larger pot. Turn the heat down to medium and quickly mix in the eggplant into the sauce in the pot. This is a good time to add the salt, too, as salt will help eggplants release the moisture within them, which will help the process of cooking down without adding additional water. The moisture will also prevent the pot from burning under. You will also need to stir the pot quite often to make sure the bottom will not burn. This process will take about 10 minutes. Please do not go too far off from your kitchen. Once the eggplants are well cooked down, you will see oil separating from the entire concoction. This means that very little moisture left in the pot and is the perfect time to TURN DOWN the heat to low and cover the pot with a lid.

Keep the pot covered for about 20-30 minutes. This time you can leave the kitchen :) Come back once in a while to stir the pot and cover it back again.

Once the time is up, mix in the rest of the dill. If you like for it to cook down and not stay crunchy, you can keep the lid on for a little while. Otherwise, your eggplant spread is ready! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.