Roasted Eggplant is the perfect base for a vegan dip. Mashed with garlic, and the added tang of pomegranate syrup, this version has different twist of various flavours.
Eggplant or Bademjan is very popular in our house. It can be cooked in many ways, fried, roasted and even boiled. Eggplant used to be very bitter, and I remember the first time we had eggplant as a child it was extremely bitter, it seems that the eggplant we purchase now has the bitterness bred out of it.
Tips to make Borani Bademjan
Roasting eggplant is one of the easiest way to cook eggplant, and makes this recipe easy to make. Simply place the whole eggplant on a baking try, and bake for around 1 hour at about 160 deg. You can cook the eggplant in the oven while you are cooking a casserole.
When cooked, the roasted eggplant will completely collapse. Place it in a bowl to slightly cool before peeling the eggplant. Gently slice through the skin and drizzle with lemon juice. The lemon juice will keep the eggplant from turning brown.
When mashing the ingredients together, be sure to just gently combine the ingredients. Don’t be tempted to add everything to a food processor, as this will release the liquid and make the borani watery.
After the roasted eggplant has been mashed, stir through the remaining ingredients into the eggplant mixture to ensure that everything is well mixed. Garnish with dried mint, pomegranate syrup and olive oil and serve with Pita Bread.
Garnish with dried mint, pomegranate syrup and olive oil and serve with Pita Bread.
Persian Eggplant Dip – Borani Bademjan
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplant
- 1 medium onion
- 2 tlbs pomegranate molasses
- ¼ cup fresh mint
- 2 tlbs tahini
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Place whole eggplant on a baking tray and roast for about an hour
- Remove form the oven and place in a bowl to cool
- Slice across to eggplant to split open, and drench in lemon juice
- Gently peel off the skin, and roll in lemon juice
- In a large bowl, add peeled roasted eggplant,finely chopped onion and garlic, tahini, pomegranate molasses salt and pepper.
- Gently mash all ingredients with a potato masher, until just combined
- Stir through the finely chopped mint
- Serve drizzled with olive oil and pomegranate molasses, sprinkled with chipped mint