Make mutabbal, a bright, smoky eggplant dip
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Mutabbal is a Levantine eggplant dish similar to baba ganoush. It’s smoky, bright, creamy and rich, and would work well as an appetizer with pita, or as the base for grilled chicken or lamb. This recipe was inspired by recent trips to the wonderful Zankou Chicken in Glendale, and adapted from “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” by Claudia Roden. I like the long, thin Italian eggplants for this, as they tend to be less bitter than globe eggplants and get nice and smoky when broiled.
Mutabbal
Set your oven to broil. Place the eggplant on a foiled-line baking sheet on the top rack of the oven. Broil the eggplants, rotating every five minutes until deeply, evenly charred and collapsed and soft, about 15 minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, use your hands or a small knife to peel away and discard the charred skin. Transfer the flesh into a bowl and mash thoroughly with a fork.
Add the olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Mix well.
Taste your mutabbal. It should be rich from the olive oil, bright from the lemon juice, a bit spicy from the garlic, noticeably roasty and nutty from the tahini and seasoned with enough salt to be delicious. Adjust until it tastes good.
Serve in a bowl topped with more olive oil, chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Aleppo pepper.
