charred eggplant dip with olive oil quinoa crackers
“You can go ahead and use this recipe for the crackers if you like. I put them in my boy’s lunchbox and serve them with soup. BUT the eggplant dip is gorgeous and I regularly call this little pairing dinner. ”
charred eggplant dip with olive oil quinoa crackers
serves 4-6 | prep time 30 mins, plus 1 hr resting | cook time 30 mins
2 large eggplants (aubergines)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp tahini
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 spring onion (scallion), chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
plain yoghurt, to serve
2 tsp thinly sliced mint
OLIVE OIL QUINOA CRACKERS
260 g (9¼ oz/1¾ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tbsp raw quinoa, well washed and dried on paper towel
1 tsp sea salt
125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
For the olive oil quinoa crackers, preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a bowl, combine flour, quinoa and half the salt. Make a well in the centre of flour and pour in oil and 185 ml (6 fl oz/¾ cup) of water, mixing with one hand as you go. Mix gently until you have a soft, pliable dough. The dough should feel very wet; this helps get a good cracker.
Turn the dough out onto a well floured bench. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll out each portion until paper-thin, working on baking paper if needed because it may be too delicate to lift. Carefully transfer to the prepared tray. Sprinkle dough with the remaining salt.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. This may take less time, depending on how thin the crackers are, so watch them carefully. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Hold the whole eggplants over a medium flame on a gas stove or barbecue, turning every so often, for about 15–20 minutes, or until the skin is charred all over and the flesh tender. Halve, skin on, and put in a colander, cut side down, for 30 minutes, to drain a little.
Scoop out half the eggplant flesh and blend in a food processor with the garlic, tahini and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Scoop out the remaining eggplant, mash with a fork, then fold into the blended eggplant with the spring onion and olive oil.
Serve in a shallow bowl, dollop over yoghurt, scatter over mint and drizzle over extra olive oil. Serve with olive oil quinoa crackers.
This recipe appeared in Margaret and Me (Murdoch), my third cookbook. Photography by Rob Palmer. Styling by Michelle Noerianto.