Yes, another eggplant recipe! And a very simple dip to prepare; the hardest part is roasting the eggplant and that’s not especially difficult, just time consuming. I can’t tell you exactly what size eggplant to buy – you’ll want about 2 cups of eggplant pulp. The 3 oriental eggplant I used only gave me about 1 cup of pulp so I would recommend a medium to large Italian eggplant for this recipe or else adjust the other ingredients to the amount of eggplant pulp you roasted.
First, roast the eggplant by slicing it into 1″ slices. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray or brush the eggplant slices with olive oil then turn them over and repeat. Roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
While the eggplant is roasting, in a small skillet heat:
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 teaspoon cumin
Heat only until you can smell the cumin, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Remove the eggplant and let cool slightly before peeling the skin from around the outside of each slice. Place in a food processor and add:
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and pepper (about 1/8 teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
the cumin and avocado oil mixture
Pulse until smooth, spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with dried or fresh parsley. If desired, sprinkle with olive or avocado oil as well. Serve with gluten-free pita or quinoa buns (see recipe below).
Quinoa Buns
I thought these sounded interesting – avocado and quinoa with lime juice? Who puts lime juice in a bread? But I thought it sounded like it might be a good vehicle for the baba ghanoush. And it sounded very easy to make so I gave it a try and it actually is delicious but just be miserly with the lime zest or it overpowers the other flavors in the buns.
In a medium to large bowl combine:
1 1/2 cup quinoa flour (if you don’t have any but you have quinoa, simply pulse in a food processor to make flour from the raw quinoa)
1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
In a smaller bowl mash:
1 whole large ripe avocado being sure to take out any brown bruise spots which won’t mix into the batter
Add to the avocado:
1-2 tablespoons lime juice (juice from 1 lime)
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 cup water
Using a whisk or hand mixer, combine the wet ingredients until fairly smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. It’s a sticky dough so using wet hands shape into 6-7 balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten to about 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle with more sesame seeds and let sit while the oven heats to 425 degrees. Bake about 25 minutes total, turning the buns over at 15 minutes to brown both sides. Test with a toothpick for doneness. REMEMEBER GLUTEN FREE BREADS CAN BE GUMMY SO EVEN IF THE TOOTHPICK COMES OUT CLEAN, THEY STILL MAY NOT BE COOKED THROUGH. Cool completely before cutting.
cookingwithoutallergens 