What is zaalouk, the Moroccan aubergine salad?

Zaalouk is the kind of dish that makes me fall in love with Moroccan home cooking all over again. It is a cooked salad — really more of a thick, soft dip — built from aubergine and tomato cooked down with garlic, olive oil, cumin, sweet paprika, and a good handful of fresh coriander and parsley. The aubergine is grilled or fried first so it takes on a faint smokiness, then everything is simmered and mashed together into a glossy, jammy spread.

The taste is rich and mellow, the aubergine silky, the tomato giving a gentle tang, all lifted by cumin and garlic and a whisper of chilli if the cook likes heat. It is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day, once the flavours have settled. Scooped up with bread, warm or at room temperature, it is simple but deeply satisfying — the sort of thing I could happily eat as a whole light lunch.

Zaalouk almost always arrives as part of the spread of small cooked salads that opens a Moroccan meal, alongside taktouka and other vegetable dishes, before the main tagine or couscous. It is everyday food, made in homes across the country, and a brilliant way for vegetarians to eat well here. Families serve it casually, and there is no single "correct" recipe — every cook adjusts the garlic, oil, and spice to taste.

Because it is so common, you will find zaalouk on almost any traditional menu and at every home table, but the best is homemade with good olive oil. On market-to-table classes I teach guests to grill the aubergine until the skin blackens for that smoky depth. Order it as a starter, mop it up with fresh khobz bread, and you will see why it is a fixture of the Moroccan table.