Hey there!
Today we were hosting a little farewell gathering for my sister since she will be flying out of Switzerland to spend a year abroad. I had the honour of preparing the buffet. It was the first time I cooked for such a big group of people and I was very thankful that my sister gave me a hand. She actually took over all the baking and made beautiful whole wheat and spelt flour focaccia. She also did all the chopping for the fruit salad we were having as part of the dessert.
My task however was to handle all the vegetable dishes.
I prepared baked sweet potato as well as pumpkin, which is one of the go-to sides in our household. Then I made a lovely Mandorlata di Peperoni, which is a pepper stew enhanced with almonds and raisins. We also served some pan-fried zucchini harvested from a family friend’s garden. And last but not least I made two delicious dips whose recipes I want to share with you today.
Recently my sister and I were having dinner in a Moroccan restaurant where we tried some Baba Ganoush, which was absolutely divine; therefore I wanted to create a dip similar to that. The one we had tried was extremely creamy probably due to a lot of tahini added. This however resulted in a very overwhelming sesame flavour. I wanted to create a consistency similar to the one of the Baba Ganoush in the Moroccan recipe that is why I decided to add some Greek yoghurt. This way I ended up with a very creamy dip which tasted a lot like egg plant and not as much like sesame seeds. Aside from eggplant and Greek yoghurt I used lemon juice, cumin, a little bit of tahini, parsley and garlic to create this amazing tasting dip.
For the second dip I was intending to make an ordinary hummus. Then however I decided to twist it a little and added two roasted red peppers to the dip, which I had left over from the Mandorlata di Peperoni. I didn’t regret this addition at all since it turned out absolutely delicious. This version of a hummus was slightly sweet from the peppers and also a little spicy because of the added harissa, which gave it an interesting touch. Besides the standard chickpeas and the roasted peppers, I added lime juice and then a few ingredients similar to the ones in the eggplant dip. Those were harissa, garlic and obviously lots of cumin.
Both of the two dips turned out to be crowd pleasers, everybody loved them and they were eaten up in no time. They were perfect to dip the sweet potato and pumpkin in yet they also made a lovely topping for my sisters homemade focaccia.
Eggplant Dip
Ingredients:
- 1kg eggplant (about 6)
- ½ lemon (juice)
- 2tsp cumin
- ½ tbs harissa
- 1tbs tahini
- 150g Greek yoghurt
- parsley
- 2 cloves of garlic
- salt
- Cut eggplants in half and bake them in the oven for about 50 minutes at a 190°C or until they are soft
- When the eggplants are soft enough take them out oft he oven and remove skin straight away, also try to remove the majority of the seeds
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- Add peeled eggplant into a bowl with the parsley, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, cumin and Greek yoghurt process with a food processor until smooth
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- To give it a spicy touch I also added some harissa, if you prefer things mild I wouldn’t recommend doing that though. Then also add salt to taste.
Voila you just created the most delicious eggplant dip. It is extremely tasty with bread as well as vegetable sticks and even on its own, this however defeats the purpose of a dip, so I do recommend dipping something in it.
Red Pepper Hummus
Ingredients:
- 2 roasted red peppers
- 250g chickpeas
- 2tsp cumin
- ½ lime (juice)
- 1tbs tahini
- ½ tsp harissa
- 2 cloves if garlic
- salt
- Roast the peppers and peel them, if you don’t know how to do this check out my recipe on roasted pepper where I explained every step in detail.
- Add the chickpeas and red peppers as well as harissa, garlic, lime juice and cumin into a bowl, process until smooth.
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- Then add salt to taste, be careful on the salt though if you used already cooked chickpeas since these are mostly already salted.
Voila, roasted red pepper hummus. This is a mouth-watering twist on the chickpea classic, which I can only recommend to have a go at.
If you are intending to try out my recipe, which you definitely should, I should mention though that I was cooking for about ten people. So if you aren’t planning to please such a big group with this scrumptious delight I recommend cutting the recipe in half, since I’m not a hundred per cent sure about how long it will last in the fridge if you happen to end up with left overs, which you probably won’t due to the addicting taste of those divine dips.
Whether you decide to half the recipe or nut I wish you all the best in the cooking procedure, which is actually extremely simple and tales no time a tall. On this occasion I also want to wish my sister just the best for her year overseas. I’m sure you will have a blast and make the most unforgettable experiences.
Wishing my sister an amazing year and you a lovely Sunday.
Bisous
Fanny, the foodie
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