Moutabel- Levantine Eggplant Dip

Creamy, smoky, middle eastern mezze, made with the very versatile eggplant. Moutabel or Mutabel is a classic and easy dip to be served on every party platter with pita or crackers.

Hello HTS Community

Levantine and Turkish cuisine is filled with recipes using eggplants/ aubergines/ brinjals. These are stuffed, fried, smoked and then used in salads, soups, kebabs etc. Eggplants are very versatile, because their skin and flesh absorbs a lot of flavour

Moutabel is made in several countries and the recipe might differ from region to region. However, the basic ingredients generally include smoked eggplant, tahini, yogurt, garlic and salt. The use of Tahini can completely change the recipe, for example, without tahini people in Turkey might term it as a salad.

Some of the other dips that go perfectly on a mediterranean platter are Yogurt and Tahini sauce, hummus, Yogurt-garlic dip, Labneh, Black eyed beans hummus

Ingredients for Moutabel dip

• Eggplant- 2
• Butter- 1 teaspoon
• Olive oil- 1 teaspoon, more for garnish
• Garlic- 2-3 cloves
• Pistachio- 1 tablespoon, chopped
• Yogurt- 1.5 cups
• Tahini– 3 teaspoons
• Salt- to taste
• Sumac- for garnish
• Mint leaves- for garnish

Steps:

• Poke some holes with a knife in the eggplants and grill them on fire/stove until soft. Remove skin, chop the flesh and salt it. Keep aside

• In a pan heat together butter and olive oil and add garlic. Cook it on low heat for a minute and then add chopped pistachios. Roast them for about a minute until aromatic.

• Add the eggplant flesh and mix well. Keep aside to cool down.

• In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt and tahini until creamy. To make Tahini at home, follow the steps shared in my hummus recipe.

• Add the eggplant mixture to the yogurt and mix gently. Adjust salt and refrigerate for at-least an hour before serving.

• Garnish with olive oil, sumac and fresh mint leaves and serve.