Saturday, March 07, 2009

Eggplant with Tahini-Yoghurt Dressing

Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted here this weekend and it also happens to be our Labour Day Holiday weekend so I'm enjoying it with some of these adorable baby Eggplants.


eggplant© by Haalo

Eggplants that fit in eggcups!

I've written previously about the nutritional elements of Eggplant but here is an interesting titbit - if you ever find yourself bitten by a scorpion you can place eggplant slices over the bite mark. I have no idea whether this works and I'm not about to look for a scorpion to find out.

The dish I'm making today comes from Greg Malouf and is found in his book Moorish. Eggplant wedges are shallow fried until golden and then drizzled generously with a tangy and garlicky tahini and yoghurt dressing. I'm the first to admit that this isn't a dish that looks "pretty"- no amount of frilly ribbons or bokeh will change that.


eggplant with tahini-yoghurt dressing© by haalo


Eggplant with Tahini-Yoghurt Dressing

Eggplants
olive oil

Tahini-Yoghurt Dressing
90mls plain yoghurt
30mls tahini paste
lemon juice
1 garlic clove
sea salt

Make the dressing:

Crush the garlic clove with a little sea salt until it forms a puree.

Place the yoghurt, tahini and crushed garlic into a bowl and stir until combined. Drizzle in the lemon juice a little at a time until it reaches a good balance of flavour - you want a dressing that will has both those nutty and lemony notes. The dressing should have the consistency of honey, to achieve this you may need to add a little water to the mix.

You can store the dressing in the fridge for a couple of days.


Prepare the eggplant:

Whether you use the regular size or these baby eggplants the process is fairly similar. Cut the eggplants to form wedges - larger ones may need to be salted to remove the bitterness. For these smaller ones, that won't be necessary.

Shallow fry the wedges until golden and drain well on paper towels.


Assemble the dish:

Scatter the wedges over a serving plate and drizzle over generously with the dressing.

Serve at once.

eggplant with tahini-yoghurt dressing© by haalo

You could adapt this for the BBQ by grilling the eggplant wedges - this would incorporate those lovely smoky flavours to the dish and then serve them with the dressing.

10 comments

  1. Oh yum! I love eggplant and I am nuts about that tahini-yogurt dressing on falafel, so I know I'd like it on eggplant too. Great recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are just adorable! The tahini dressing sounds great, too. (The scorpions, I can do without) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think these would look good served when placed on other colours...red peppers, spinach etc. Good post. Eggplant is just too good NOT to make and eat.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, I'm a first time visitor. I love your site, especially impressed by your cheese page. I'm a cheese freak and that was exactly what I'd been looking for. :) I get the feeling that I'd be coming here very often. BTW, your photos look great! I'm wondering what camera you use. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Kalyn - it's a bit like a deconstructed babaganoush

    Thanks DDD - too cute aren't they.

    Thanks Trish - it does need colour, tomatoes would be good too.

    Thanks Sophie - aubergine is also used in england but here in australia we ended up calling them eggplant

    Thanks Butterfly and welcome - I mostly use a nikon d80.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks wonderful! I'm not a fan of the consistency of babaganoush but I like the flavor. You got great color on the eggplant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Not pretty? Au contraire, mon frère. It is a thing of beauty.

    I made my own tahini out sesame seeds from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. Problem was, I didn't know what the word "husked" meant. Did it mean they had been de-huskenated or did it mean they retained their husks? I could not tell my looking. This confounded me massively. As a result, my tahini came out extremely fibrous. Still, it tastes 10X better than the two types I bought

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, the food looks so great!! I am starting a food blog myself but your blog looks wonderful! I'm a little jealous. :) Thanks for sharing your tips!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a perfect way to prepare eggplant - simple and very tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Maggie - if you like the flavour of babaganoush you'll get that in this dish.

    Thanks Chip - home made tahini that is impressive.

    Thanks Sook and welcome to foodblogging - all the best!

    Thanks Jdeq!

    ReplyDelete

© Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once | All rights reserved.
BLOG TEMPLATE HANDCRAFTED BY pipdig