Mealtime: Eggplant with Tehina

Here in Israel there are many ways in which the locals prepare eggplant. One of those ways is roasting the eggplant. You can either roast the eggplant on the grill if you are already grilling things, or in a hot oven. When the eggplant is roasted, the flesh becomes tender and can be combined with mayonnaise or tehina. Once combined with the tehina or mayonnaise, the eggplant becomes a great starter or accompaniment to lunch with a salad and some pita.

Ingredients 

raw tehina

two eggplants

the juice of two lemons

black pepper

paprika
4 minced cloves of garlic
salt
olive oil

Method

Coat the eggplants with the oil and place them in an 425 Degree Fahrenheit oven. Roast the eggplants for about 30 minutes. You should flip the eggplants halfway through the roasting process. To see if the eggplants are done, you can prick them with a toothpick, if they come out without resistance then the eggplants are ready. Make sure to scrap out all of the flesh from the skin. Then chop the flesh into bite size pieces. In another bowl, place a cup of tehina paste with the lemon juice, half a cup of water, and minced garlic. Whisk the tehina until it becomes pale and creamy. Add the eggplant, pepper, and paprika to the tehina and mix. Garnish with more paprika and parsley if you have parsley. Serve as a side dish to any meal, or serve with other salads and you could make a meal out of that. It also makes a great dip with crackers and pita as a snack. It is delicious and does not take a rocket scientist to make. Give it a try, I am confident you will love it. Enjoy!