Improvising on melitzanosalata (aubergine dip)

This is one of the things we make so often at home, that we don’t have a recipe for it. In Greek it’s called ‘melitzanosalata’ and it’s commonly found at meze-meals (something like tapas, except with Greek food). I suppose you could translate it as ‘aubergine dip’. It’s quick, it’s delicious, it’s easy as can be to make, and it’s a lovely, healthy way to use up those aubergines sitting in your fridge. The recipe that I’ve given is just the variation I used yesterday. You can improvise as much as you want.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 aubergines
• some extra-virgin olive oil (as much as you want, but don’t overdo it)
• 1/4 tsp cumin (or add more if you feel like it)
• salt & pepper to taste
• some fat-free Greek yoghurt- I used 2 full tsps (it goes without saying that you can also use full-fat Greek yoghurt or indeed none at all. Quantities according to taste)

Method:

• Grill the aubergines or just roast them in a very hot oven, having ’stabbed’ them a couple of times with a fork
• Once they’re done (you’ll know because they’ll be soft when touching, and a fork will easily go through them) let them cool
• Peel them & then either chop them in small pieces with a fork & knife, or alternatively use the blender or food processor to liquidify. Try not to mush them up too much, you want this to be a bit chunky and not completely creamy. But again, go according to taste
• To the mashed-up aubergines add some cumin, olive oil, salt and pepper and the yoghurt
• That’s it! Eat with toasted bread, paprika and some lemon (if you want)

Variations:

You can add some chopped walnuts if you want. You can also add some minced garlic or finely chopped onion- in fact, garlic is a very common addition to this dip. The other thing we often do is eat this alongside beef which has been cooked in a tomato sauce. It makes a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes, and I suppose it can be seen as a light, easy version of the Turkish dish hunkar begendi.