Babaganoush (My Doctored Version)

Title:
Babaganoush (My Doctored Version)

Yield:
3 Cups

Categories:
Ethnic




Ingredients:





     2 tb Olive oil


     2    Onions (chopped)


     2    Stalks of celery


          -chopped (optional)


   1/2    Red sweet pepper chopped,


          -for color


     1    Eggplant (cubed


          -about 3/4 inch)


     2    Cloves of garlic,


          -chopped or mashed


   1/2 ts Ground cumin plus


          -1 pinch whole


   1/2 ts Ground coriander


   1/4 ts Ground pepper


   1/4 ts Crushed dried chili pepper


          Salt (to taste)


     1 tb Tahini *


          Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon


          -(to taste) or lime


          Handful of parsley or


          -cilantro


          -and/or scallion ends or


          -chives


          Black olives,


          Parsley sprigs


          -and a lemon slice to


          -decorate






   * Sesame paste. I've heard of substituting peanut butter, but never tried


 it.


   The variable amounts of ingredients depend on your taste and on the size


 of the eggplant. Try it without celery and red pepper and then you can


 decide if you want to use it next time.


  Saute onions, (celery & red pepper) till starting to brown (I do in a


 wok). Add eggplant and garlic, stir well, add spices (not the salt), stir


 again and on very low fire, saute. May drop some liquid, that's all right,


 let it evaporate, and saute slowly until everything is very tender. Keep


 checking, it's better if it browns a little, but needs stirring so it


 doesn't burn. If it's too dry, add a few TBs liquid at a time (I use


 vegetable broth, liquid from steaming veggies, or liquid from microwaving


 mushrooms, etc. but water would probably do). Add salt, tahini and lemon


 juice, pulse a few seconds at a time in food processor or mash with potato


 masher -- can be slightly lumpy, too smooth is pretty awful.Add green


 stuff, pulse once or twice to chop coarsely and distribute or chop coarsely


 and stir in.


  It's an ugly color, so I try to dress it up with a lemon slice, greens and


 black olives, seems to help. Serve with quarters of pita bread or mini


 pitas, it's finger food, a great appetizer with a curry meal


 


 From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini