Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate

This eggplant dish always wonderfully decorates the table.
It’s beautiful,
It’s delicious,
It’s special
And it’s so much fun.

This dish is “special” for Rosh Hashanah,
But it’ll fit any table you want to decorate.

It can be prepared in advance,
and assembled right before serving.

The dish will be the star of your table,
Everyone will devour her,
and will be delighted by it.

Happy eggplant days to all of us 🙂

Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate. image: Essy Roz

Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate

Ingredients:

• 1 whole eggplant
• ½ cup raw tahini
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
• Lemon juice from a whole lemon

For the dressing:

• Juice of ½ a lemon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon honey / agave syrup (for vegans)

For decoration: a pinch of chopped parsley or cilantro

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C) on turbo mode.
2. Place the eggplant on a baking pan and pierce it with a knife (2 holes will be enough).
3. Put in the oven on the top shelf and bake for about 20 minutes. Turn the eggplant and bake for another 20 minutes. Kindly note that at the end of baking the eggplant should be soft but burnt.
4. Take the eggplant out of the oven, put it in a colander and let it cool and let its liquid come out. I recommend running a knife along the length of the eggplant so that the liquids come out more easily. The eggplant can be in the colander until it cools, you can leave it like that for 2-3 hours.
5. Prepare the tahini: mix in a bowl ½ a cup of raw tahini, ½ a cup of cold water, crushed garlic clove, lemon juice from a whole lemon and salt. Mix well into a uniform and smooth paste. Taste, adjust flavors and set aside.
6. When the eggplant cools, you can peel it (I like to leave the head of the eggplant to decorate the plate).
7. Prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, mix the honey, salt and lemon juice.
8. When the meal time is coming up, plate it in a deep dish. Pour the tahini and spread it on a plate. Place the eggplant in the center of the plate, with the help of a spoon pour the lemon-honey sauce we prepared on the eggplant. Garnish with bright pomegranate seeds and a little chopped parsley or cilantro to your personal taste.

A little extra from me:

• You can prepare the eggplant 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge.
• It’s important to assemble the dish close to serving and not long in advance. Its beauty will weaken over time.
• You can omit the lemon-honey sauce and drizzle a little olive oil over it instead.

Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate. image: Essy Roz

Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate. image: Essy Roz