Warm roasted aubergine dip

Aubergines are quickly becoming one of my all time favourite vegetables! I have always loved eating them however I never really cook with them. Aubergines are not as popular as other vegetables however they really should be consumed on a regular basis as they are packed full of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre!

Try making this easy warm aubergine dip when you next have guests over as it is one that will certainly impress.

Ingredients –

• 2 large aubergines
• 2 cloves of garlic in skin
• 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• a big pinch of salt and black pepper

Method –

1. Cut the Aubergine length ways and place on a cooking tray – cover with salt and allow to sit for at least an hour (image above). You will start to see beads of water form on top of the aubergine. Once the hour is up, rinse under cold water to remove the excess salt.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
3. To cook the aubergine – score the inside flesh with crosses and drizzle with salt and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
4. Place the aubergines skin down on baking tray.
5. Add the whole garlic cloves (skin still on) to the baking tray along side the aubergines and roast in the oven for roughly 35 minutes or until the aubergines are nicely cooked through and creamy.
6. Onced cooked through, remove the aubergines from the oven and allow to cool briefly.
7. Whilst the aubergines are cooling, place the tahini and lemon in the blender first and whip them together for a few minutes until the tahini becomes airy and light in colour.
8. Next scoop the flesh of the aubergines out of the skin and place in the food processor along with the remaining ingredients.
9. Blitz the mixture until combined well, stop the blender and scrape down the sides and blend again. Repeat this 2 to 3 times.
10. Place in a nice serving bowl and sprinkle the dip with some more cumin and a drizzle of olive oil.
11. There are so many way you could served this but my favourites are as a dip or even in a middle eastern inspired chicken wrap! You could even blend it until completely smooth and serve as a puree with other middles eastern or even Mediterranean flavours!

Let me know how you get on and what you serve it with!