Week 10 – 2021

This is another post from the series “I tried something new this week”.

Not every meal needs to be complicated to be delicious. Sometimes you just need to remember about flavours that make you happy. Maybe food that reminds you of home or holidays, maybe something that you ate in a restaurant and always wanted to try to make.

That’s exactly what I did this weekend. I went to the market to get bread, olives and some tapenade and then did some dips to go with that. It turned out to be a delicious platter of food.

This is what I made to go with the delicious market food:

• Smoked aubergine mix
• Hummus
• My version of tabbouleh

Ingredients

For the aubergine dip:

• aubergine
• brown onion
• salt
• oil

For the hummus:

• 1 x 400g can chickpeas
• 60 ml lemon juice
• 60 ml tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 45ml water
• paprika for serving

For the tabbouleh:

• cucumber
• tomatoes
• fresh parsley leafs
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt
• pepper

Method

Aubergine dip

This is something that my mum and aunt did quite a lot for us in the past. Is a popular starter in Romania and pretty similar to the Middle Eastern recipes actually.

The dip is very simple to make. The more complicated part is to actually get the smoke flavour in the aubergine. If you have a bbq that works perfectly, if you have a pan that you can use for char grilling that also works very well. Alternatively just bake the aubergine in the oven with the grill setting on. Then peel and let the aubergine to rest in a sieve, is watery and it needs to dry for a bit. You can use kitchen roll to speed up the process.

The smoked aubergine needs to be processed in a blender.

Add a drizzle of oil and the finely diced onion in a pan, fry for a few minutes and then lower the temperature and add the aubergine and salt to taste. Done!

Hummus

Add the lemon juice and the tahini sauce to a food processor and mix for about a minute. Make sure that the tahini jar is well shaken before you use it. I used a pre-made lemon juice as I had quite a bit in the fridge but it tastes better with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Then add the salt, cumin, oil and minced garlic into the mix. Process them for about a minute. Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas into the mix and process again. Add the water. If the hummus is too thick, add a bit more water and process until the mixture is smooth and slightly fluffy. Sprinkle some paprika for serving. Done!

Tabbouleh

This is my take on tabbouleh and is probably more of a refreshing salad but I felt like my platter needed some acidity.

Cut the tomatoes, cucumber and parsley as fine as you can so that they mix well together. Season well with salt and pepper and squeeze some lemon juice. Balance it with some olive oil. Done!

Serve the dips and tabbouleh with bread, olives, tapenade and some feta cheese. This platter is a good mix of freshness and creaminess. A very indulgent meal! Enjoy!