I always cook this dish whenever I have crowds for dinner or lunch. It works as a salad and a vegetarian main. It’s important that you use thick, Greek type yogurt here. You can prepare everything in advance and keep covered until serving time. Assemble and serve.
Aubergine salad with yogurt
I always cook this dish whenever I have crowds for dinner or lunch. It works as a salad and a vegetarian main. You can prepare everything in advance and keep covered until serving time. Assemble and serve.
Ingredients
For the eggplants
- 1 kg aubergines, (eggplants) diced in 2 cm cubes (approximately)
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- salt to taste
For the yogurt topping
- 800 gr thick greek yogurt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbs fresh mint leaves, torn or roughly chopped
- salt to taste
For the pita bread
- 2 pieces large, arabic pita bread
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp sumac
- 2 tbs pine nuts, to serve
Instructions
- Prepare the aubergines. Preheat oven to 230° C fan (445 F). Put diced aubergines in a large baking tray. Drizzle with the olive oil and mix in the garlic, spices and a little salt. Stir to coat. Bake aubergines for 30 minutes, stirring once. Put cooked aubergines in a bowl to cool. You can prepare the aubergines up to two days in advance. Keep covered in the fridge until needed.
- Prepare the yogurt by mixing all ingredients together in a bowl. Keep covered in the fridge until needed.
- Prepare the pita bread. Preheat oven to 150° C fan (305 F). Mix thyme, sesame seeds and sumac in a small bowl. Split pitas in half by inserting a knife in the pocket of each pita, so that you are left with four thin pieces. Using a pastry brush, brush each cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with the sesame/thyme/sumac mixture. Bake pitas in the oven, cut side up, for about 10 minutes until they are golden and crisp. Cool pita on wire racks, then crush in thick pieces with your hands. You can keep cooked pittas in a zip lock bag or air tight container for 2 days.
- Assemble the salad. Roast the pine nuts for a few minutes, in a dry pan over medium heat, until fragrant. Set aside. Make sure aubergines are in room temperature. Put the aubergines in a round serving platter. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and top with the yogurt. Scatter the pita pieces on top and serve.
