mutabal is a lebanese eggplant salad, prevalent in many arab countries. it is very nutritious, with a creamy taste due to the sesame paste (tahina) and yoghurt.
spicy, with rustic flavor of garlic, the salad is served as mezze on pieces of pita.
today we will prepare a simple variant with basic ingredients.
ingredients:
-2 eggplants
-2-3 tablespoons sesame paste (tahina)
-half a lemon
-olive oil (1-2 tablespoons)
-2 cloves of garlic
-100 ml yoghurt
-salt
-chopped parsley for decoration
bake the eggplants, clean them and then drain them within hours. when well drained, mix them or chop with the knife. i like to cut them with the knife; it remains a bit of the original texture. you can mix them and you get a smooth puree, but certainly the traditional version doesn't require the use of mixer :)
add the ground garlic, lemon juice, salt, tahina paste, oil and mix.
add yogurt (if you want them to be for lent, put soy yogurt or don't put at all). homogenize well.
taste and season with what ingredient you think you like best.
garnish with chopped parsley.
some variants are more spicy (add chopped green chilies) or aromatic (you can decorate with pomegranate seeds). the chopped nuts can fit very well in this lebanese salad.
enjoy!