Baba ghanoush

Prep time

1 hour

Cooking time

30 mins

Servings

4-6

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This is a most wonderful and simple recipe, although the cooking of the aubergine is a little unusual.  The secret is to char the skins of the aubergine to give a deep smokey flavour.   If you are having a BBQ this makes life easy as they cook perfectly - otherwise directly onto the flame of a gas hob is best.

Ingredients

3 large aubergines, about 750g-1 Kg in total

Two cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste with 1 tsp salt

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tbsp tahini paste

4 tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

(optional) Pomegranate seeds for decoration

Directions

1. Pierce the skins of the aubergines in a few places to stop them from exploding.
2. Grill on a hot BBQ or directly onto a naked flame of a gas hob.  If using a gas hob, the aubergines will drip juice so you may want to protect you hob with foil.  Put a BBQ mesh onto the hob and place the aubergine directly above the flame.  Use a low to medium setting.  The aubergines will need to be moved every 5-10 minutes to ensure the charing is all over.   When cooked the aubergines will have lost all structure an be very limp and flattended.  This process will take 30-45 minutes.
3. Remove from the flame and put aside to cool.
4. Discard the top of the aubergine and cut in half.  scrape the flesh and and any juice into a bowl.   Discard the skin and try to not get  any of the charred skin into the mixture, but get as mush of the flash as you can.  
5. Whisk or beat by hand to make the mixture smooth.  Do not use a blender as this will remove all of the texture.  The beating only take a minute.
6. Add the garlic, lemon juice, oilve oil and tahini paste.   The extact proportions will depend on the size of the aubergines, expecially with the tahini, if the taste is too stong add a tablespoon of water.
7. Season to taste.
8. When in season scatter some pomegranate seeds on top.

Serve with warm flatbread or pitta bread.