Yes, burn your eggplant on purpose, you'll be happy you did
Add cucumbers and tomato to take it to a new dimension
Have eggplant? let's cook...
Pierce an eggplant with a fork in a few places, around the eggplant. Bake in a 350*f oven until the skin is blackened. Sorry, no photos of it, but you'll think it's ruined, don't worry, it's not. Cut in half and scoop out the flesh into a strainer placed over a bowl.
While the eggplant is draining, gather the tahini, pomegranate molasses, water, garlic and lemon juice. The recipe also calls for pomegranate seeds and parsley, neither of which I have, but I didn't let that stop me.
Roughly chop the eggplant, add to a medium-size bowl and add the tahini,
lemon juice, and garlic.
Drizzle in the pomegranate molasses and stir.
I don't add water until I see the consistency of the mix, if it's too tight I'll add the water, if not I'll leave it out. In this recipe, since I thought I might add the cucumbers and tomatoes, I left the water out.
I set aside a portion of the eggplant mixture to add some cucumber and tomatoes to, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Little did I know how tasty it would be, and I added the cucumber and tomato to the rest of the mix. What a great combination.
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Burnt Eggplant With Tahini
appetizers, sauces/dips
1 large eggplant
1/3 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup water
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black peppe
3 mini cucumbers (6 to 7 oz in total); optional
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes; optional
seeds from 1/2 large pomegranate
olive oil to finish
First, burn the eggplant. When cool enough to handle scoop out the flesh
into a colander, avoiding the blackened skin. Leave to drain for at least
30 minutes. Chop the eggplant flesh roughly and transfer to a medium mixing
bowl. Add the tahini, water, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, garlic,
parsley and some salt and pepper; mix well with a whisk. Taste and adjust
the seasoning, adding more garlic, lemon juice or molasses if needed. You
want the salad to have a robust sour/slightly sweet flavor. If you want to
add cucumber and tomatoes, cut the cucumbers lengthways in half and then
each half lengthways in two. Cut each quarter into 3/8-inch-long pieces.
Halve the tomatoes. Stir them and the cucumber into the eggplant mix. To
serve, spread over a shallow dish, scatter the pomegranate seeds on top and
drizzle with oil.
This can be a potent dip or condiment that you can serve with raw
vegetables or to accompany lamb or fish. Or, with the optional chunks of
cucumber and tomato, it can be a gloriously refreshing summer salad that
exudes Middle Eastern aromas. You choose.
Serves
Ottolenghi, Yotam; Lovekin, Jonathan (2011-03-23). Plenty: Vibrant
Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi (p. 122). Chronicle Books.
Kindle Edition.
Yield: 2-4 servings
** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.87 **
And that's that
