Baba Ganoush - eggplant dip

Baba ganoush, or Baba ganouj as it is also known as, is a Lebanese dip made from roasted eggplant and a few other ingredients. It is paired with chips, pita, tortilla chips, etc., and can be served as one of the starters when you have a group of friends over.

Ingredients
Eggplant / Brinjal - 1
Tahini - 4 tsp
Garlic - 5 cloves
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Lemon jce - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Salt as per taste
to serve
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Raw onion, chopped - 2 tbsp (optional)
Pita chips - bowl

Prick the eggplant all over and then roast the eggplant in an oven at 200 degrees C. The eggplant can also be roasted on the stove top, to do this - rub oil all over the eggplant and hold over the fire. Use a pair of tongs to do this. Once the skin of the eggplant is charredm take it off the heat and let it cool. Then with the blunt side of a knife, brush off the charred skin from the eggplant.

Roughly mash the insides of the eggplant with the back of the fork. Add the eggplant, tahini, garlic, sesame seeds and lemon juice to a blending jar and blend till it is a smooth paste. Spoon this into a bowl and add the olive oil and red chilli flakes and mix. Serve with the chopped raw onions along with a bowl of pita chips.

My Baba Ganoush goes to
 - "Flavors of the World - Grand Finale" hosted by simplysensationalfood

 

Hot and Tangy Dip

This is a mouthwatering, hot and tangy dip or chutney that I made to go with the spring onion pancakes. This dip does not have any oil or fat in it and can be had without feeling guilty. I was inspired to make this dip by the recipe featured on maangchi.com and basically tried to keep true to the tastes and adapted it to the ingredients I had in my kitchen. And was also influenced a little by the chadacha chammanthi (crushed chutney) that is made in Kerala sometimes.

Ingredients
Onion - 1/2
Red chilli - 1
Green chilli - 1
Tamarind ball - 1.5 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste

Put all this together in a blending jar with a about 1/4 cup water. Pulse it a few times so that all the ingredients are crushed and bit sized pieces are seen. Taste it, it should have a salty, heat from the chillies, pungency of the onion, sour from the tamarind and a light sweet from the sugar. Pour it out onto a bowl and it is ready to serve.