Shahar Madjar, MD

Eggplant in Yogurt and Tahini Sauce

I dedicate this recipe to the unnamed checkout woman at the grocery store – the one with glasses and curious eyes. She didn’t seem judgmental at all when she waved the eggplants above the barcode scanner, asking, “Eggplants! What are you going to do with them?”

“Baba Ganush,” I said.

“Nana Bagush?” She asked.

I wanted to tell her that “Baba” stands for “father,” and Ganush is a name of a man, perhaps the one who invented the dish or kept perfecting it. Instead, I said, “The dish is a Mediterranean version of a roasted eggplant salad.”

The eggplant is a berry by botanical definition and a member of the genus Solanum. It is somewhat related to tomatoes and chili peppers and, more remotely, to potatoes.

The name eggplant derives from the white, egg-shaped varieties of the eggplant’s fruits, but the garden-variety eggplant most commonly seen everywhere is a plump, heavy fruit with black skin and a green stem at the top that looks like a misshaped, unfitted hat.

In Britain, eggplants are called Aubergines, a name derived from their Arabic name.

Eggplants have a mildly bitter taste. Some cooks insist on diminishing the mild bitterness by slicing the eggplants, sprinkling salt over the cut surfaces, and waiting a few minutes for the eggplants ‘flesh to “sweat” the bitterness out. These cooks then wipe the salty fluids from the cut surfaces and dab the slices dry. I find these steps redundant. I believe that the slight bitterness is perfectly eggplant-y; it lets the true character of the eggplant shine.

Whenever taste is considered, aside from slight bitterness, eggplants also deliver slight sweetness… and not much more. Why, then, bother? Because these spongy fruits have a superb ability to absorb oils and fats. They can, therefore, serve as vehicles upon which rich flavors and satisfying textures can be carried.

Eggplants contain mostly water, few calories, little carbs, minute amounts of proteins, and essentially no fat. They are rich in fibers.

There are many ways to make an eggplant dip. To create a flavorful dip, one can add olive oil, tahini sauce (sesame paste), Greek yogurt, or even mayonnaise. Here is my favorite recipe for Baba Ganush and a tip on how to roast eggplants without causing a colossal mess in the kitchen. The recipe calls for whole-fat yogurt for creaminess, olive oil for smoothness, and lemon juice, salt, and garlic for a superb combination of flavors.

Ingredients:

– ¯¯,,¯2 medium-sized eggplants

– 2 garlic cloves, minced

– 1/4 cup olive oil

– 1/4 cup whole-fat Greek

yogurt

– 2 tablespoons tahini sauce

– 2 tablespoons lemon juice

– 1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional for garnishing: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of parsley or mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons of pomegranate arils

Instructions:

1. Cut off and discard the stalk of the eggplant.

2. You may roast the eggplants over an outdoor grill or over a gas burner in the kitchen, rotating the eggplants every several minutes until the skin of the eggplant turns slightly burnt and charred, and the eggplant becomes completely soft. Then, wait until the eggplant cools down, peel, and discard the charred skin. This can be a bit messy.

Here is a less messy alternative:

3. Set your oven to high broiling.

4. Pierce the skin of the eggplant with a fork multiple times, creating several sets of small openings evenly spread along all sides of the eggplant (these piercings should be about a 1/2-inch apart and go a 1/2-inch deep).

5. Place a barbecue mesh (grilling grid) over a metal pan padded with aluminum foil.

6. Place the eggplant on top of the barbecue mesh.

7. Using this contraption with the eggplants on top, broil the eggplants in the oven for 50 minutes, rotating them every 10-15 minutes, so that all sides of the eggplants ‘skin are exposed to the broiler.

8. At the end of the broiling process, the eggplants will be almost completely collapsed, with their skin slightly burnt and charred, and some of their fluid collected in the metal pan underneath.

9. Take the eggplants out of the oven, turn the broiler off, and let the eggplants chill for several minutes.

10. Cut each eggplant longitudinally into two halves. With a large tablespoon, peel the flesh of the eggplant from its skin and discard the skin.

11. Using a knife, thinly chop the skinless eggplant.

12. Combine the eggplant and the other ingredients (minced garlic, olive oil, whole-fat Greek yogurt, tahini sauce, lemon juice, and salt) in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

13. Place several tablespoons of the roasted eggplant salad on a plate, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil from above, and garnish with thinly chopped parsley or mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons of pomegranate arils.

14. Devour the salad with toasted bread, or preferably, warm pita bread.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Shahar Madjar is a urologist at Aspirus and the author of “Is Life Too Long? Essays about Life, Death and Other Trivial Matters.” Contact him at smadjar@yahoo.com.