2 tablespoons 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 teaspoon Ground cumin plus -- 1 pinch whole
1/2 teaspoon Ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon Ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon Crushed dried chili pepper
Salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon Tahini *
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon -- (to taste) or lime
Handful of parsley or -- cilantro
scallion ends or -- chives
Black olives
Parsley sprigs -- and a lemon slice to
* 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
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