Smoked eggplant dip (babaganoush)

This dip is perfect served with batons of carrots or celery (or middle eastern bread), as part of a meze spread, with kebabs or as a side to a main course dish.

You will need:

1 medium to large egg plant
2 heaped teaspoons of tahini (sesame seed paste)
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

The dip is really simple to make, once you have roasted the egg plant, the food processor does the rest of the work. The roasting of the eggplant can tend to be a messy as I do it on an open flame. I have tried roasting it in the oven, and though the eggplant cooks beautifully, it lacks the smokiness that charring it on an open flame provides. hence, my preference is to always roast it on a gas cooktop. To reduce the post roasting clean-up, I line the cooktop with some aluminium foil and place the eggplant on a trivet, that stops it from rolling over.

Roast the eggplant on a low flame, until the skin is charred and the flesh inside is soft. Essentially, we are both cooking and smoking the eggplant. Once the eggplant is softened, place it in a bowl and cover it with cling film. Once the eggplant is cool enough to handle, remove the charred skin (do not wash the eggplant as that also washes away a lot of the flavour) and place the inside flesh (it should be soft and cooked through, if not cook for 10 minutes in a hot oven) into a food processor. Add the tahini paste and salt and blend until you have a smooth puree. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and blend again. Place into a serving dish of your choice, drizzle over some olive oil and garnish with an olive or some smoked paprika. The dip can be refrigerated covered for 3-4 days.