• Cut, dry and grind the red bell pepper
  
• First, remove the stems of the red bell peppers and red-hot pepper, cut into wedges, remove the seeds and put on a tray for 24 hours under sunlight or next to an air condition draft to dry out. After 24 hours, place in a food processor and pulse a few times to grind to a chunky paste; transfer to a strainer, the excess liquid will start dripping into the bowl placed under the strainer, yes even after drying the red bell pepper, that may still have water, refrigerate until needed (this can be kept in the fridge for 1 or 2 days), get rid of the excess liquid under the strainer.

Toast a bit the walnuts

• Place the walnuts in an oven sheet and toast in a preheated oven, to 150 °C/300°F, just for 10 minutes, our goal is to dry out the walnuts without changing its color (this will bring out their earthy flavor).
  

To prepare the red bell pepper and walnut filling:

• Roughly chop the walnuts with a serrated knife.
• Remove the crushed red bell pepper from the fridge and get rid of the excess water underneath the colander. This step can be made two days in advance and kept covered with cling film in the refrigerator.
• In a bowl, mix together the crushed red pepper paste and crushed garlic, mix well to infuse the garlic with the red bell pepper, add the roughly crushed walnuts, and season with sea salt, take a bite to adjust the salt to your liking.
  

Cook the eggplants

• Wash the eggplants under running water, keep the tip (stem end) at this stage. Transfer the eggplants to a large pot, cover the eggplants with a cake pan that can be fit in the pot, and put light weight (watch the video tutorial below) over the pan to exert pressure. Cover with water and bring to a rolling boil, leave it to cook from 10 minutes or more, stick a fork in the thickest part of an eggplant to see if the fork slides in easily with no resistance, the eggplants are done, (don’t overcook either). Prepare an ice bath and transfer the eggplants with a slotted spoon to the ice bath, this technique preserves the crisp-tender texture and fresh flavor, when the eggplants have totally cooled down remove the stem ends.
• Season and dry out the eggplants
• Using a sharp knife, vertically, make a small slit lengthwise in each eggplant, being careful not to cut all the way through, dip your wet finger in sea salt and massage the inner part of the eggplants with sea salt (about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt for each eggplants, and even a bit on the outer part (watch the video tutorial). Transfer to a colander and place the colander inside a large bowl to catch the liquid.
  
• Cover with a clean kitchen towel, put an oven sheet or cake pan on top of the towel.
  
• Put about 15 kgs weights on top of the cake pan. Our goal is to rid the eggplants totally of water, this a crucial step in making makdous, after 12 hours raise the weight to 25 kgs to exert more pressure and rid the eggplants totally of water, leave it more for 36 hours, at this stage the eggplants should be totally dried out. Watch the detailed video tutorial.
  
• Here is what the eggplants look like after 48 hours of pressing them with heavy objects; they are dried out and look paper thin.
  

Stuff the eggplants

• Stuff each eggplant with the filling, packing it tightly, and exert pressure a bit on the edges to enclose the filling.
  
• Blot the eggplants with a kitchen paper towel to keep them neat and tidy.
  

Pack the makdous in a jar and add olive oil

• Pack the stuffed eggplants in a clean air-tight glass jar, exert a bit pressure on the eggplants in the jar and keep 1 inch of the atop jar empty. Add the extra virgin olive oil to totally submerge the eggplants. Keep it on your kitchen shelf for 10 days before eating, allowing the flavors to develop together.