Roasted Eggplant & Yogurt Dip

Look at these beautiful aubergines!

No content required, I just thought these eggplants from Shaganappi Grocery were so pretty.

Prepare Aubergine in the Oven or BBQ

The inspiration for this recipe came from Gordon Ramsay’s Eggplant Caviar, but with a middle eastern twist. We begin with cutting a diamond pattern into the eggplant and seasoning heavily with salt. This encourages the eggplant to sweat and release some of it’s natural moisture. Once the eggplant has sweated for about 20 minutes, I rinsed the salt off and patted the eggplant dry with paper towels.

To prepare the eggplant for roasting, insert thin slices of garlic into the cut marks and drizzle with olive oil. For a more French take on this dish, stuff the eggplant with bits of rosemary springs and thyme, but for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, I opted to season with sumac along with the garlic. Sandwich the eggplant halves together and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. To roast the aubergine, you can simply place these foil “bombs of flavour” in a 400ºF oven for 30-40 minutes OR toss them on the BBQ and cook until soft.

Once cooked, unwrap the eggplant and set aside until cool enough to scoop out the meaty goodness. Place the cooked eggplant on a cutting board and run your knife through the mix until well chopped into a fine mash. If the eggplant is still very liquidy you can throw the mash into a sauté pan and cook it down until the water is cooked off.

Making the yogurt dip

To finish the dip, set aside 1 tablespoon of the eggplant mash for decoration. Add the mash to yogurt, chopped cilantro, and a splash of lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Plate the dip in a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining eggplant and fresh cilantro. Chill thoroughly in the fridge before serving with pieces of pita bread, pickles, or stuffed dolmas.

Roasted Eggplant & Yogurt Dip

A light, earth rich yogurt dip with roasted aubergines, cilantro, and sumac.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cooling 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course Formation Lap

Cuisine Azerbaijan

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

• 2 large aubergines
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp sumac
• 1 cup full fat dahi yogurt
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• ½ lemon, juiced

Instructions

 

• Preheat an oven to 400°F or a BBQ grill to medium heat.
• To prepare the aubergine, slice them lengthwise in half and cut a criss-cross diamond pattern into the flesh. Sprinkle each well with the salt and set aside to "sweat" for about 20-30 minutes. Once thoroughly sweaty, rinse the salt off and pat dry the aubergine.
• Drizzle the olive oil over the inside of the aubergine, and insert the slices of garlic into the diamond pattern. Season with salt, pepper, and sumac. Sandwich the aubergine back together and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast the aubergines for about 20-30 minutes on the BBQ or in the oven. The aubergines are ready when the inside is very soft.
• Remove the aubergines from the BBQ and carefully unwrap from the foil (there will be steam). Allow the open aubergines to cool for about 15 minutes before scooping out the flesh and placing on a cutting board. To help breakup the aubergine, chop it to bits on the cutting board with your knife until more like a pulp.
• Place the aubergine pulp in a small bowl and add the lemon juice, yogurt, and cilantro. Leave to cool completely in the fridge for about 2 hours.
• Serve this aubergine dip with pita bread, pickles, or dolma.

Keyword aubergine dip, azerbaijan, yogurt