Garlicky Eggplant Dip

Blog's Category: USSR-Era Cuisine, My Staple Food

Intro

Eggplant is very popular vegetable in Ukraine. In my archive, I have a lot of recipes starring eggplant. This one is one of them. My daughter is coming from college for a weekend and she loves eggplant. In the attempt to "vitaminize" my baby during her stay at home, I'm making this dish today.
Oh yeaa, it is with use of mayonnaise. If you feel guilty using it, make your own - it's not that hard  and totally good for you :)

What it is
It's a flesh of roasted eggplant with garlic and mayonnaise.

How it's served
Serve it the way you would serve any dip - with any kind of chips, crisps or crackers. I like it with crispy bread (dry multigrain bread pieces). It is spreadable and can be a great addition to sandwiches or even as part of your burger buid-up.

Taste Description
Well, it is garlicky, no doubts about it. But at the same time there is something soft and delicate about how it tastes. If you are a garlic lover - you'll be hooked :)

How to store it
It will keep in a fridge for about 3-4 days.

Variations
- Add black pepper for another level of flavor and spiciness, or fresh herbs, or whatever your fantasy will whisper to you.  Although taste it first the way I suggest here. You may want to stay there and do not want to have anything else added in.

Tips
- There is a numerous ways to roast an eggplant. I like the way I do it here, on a stove top, in a skillet. In this case I do not run whole oven (especially when steaming hot summer all around). Also you can watch your favorite TV show while doing it - no problem.

Garlicky Eggplant Dip

For about 1 quart of dip:

1 large eggplant

5-7 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
2-3 tbs mayonnaise

1/4 tsp salt (or to your taste)

- Peel eggplant and slice it along into two pieces.

- In a large skillet with olive oil, place your eggplant, flat side down, cover with a lid and cook on a lowest heat setting for about 30-40 minutes. Check once or twice on it because your stove may be different than mine :)

 

- When eggplant pieces are browned up to your liking, turn them over, cover and continue to cook for about 20-30 minutes.

 

- When your eggplant is totally soft up to falling apart stage and browned up on outside, transfer them to a large flat dish to cool down.

 

- When eggplant is warm (or cold already if you forgot about it :)), add mayo and garlic. Chop it with a plain knife or hand chopper (see my pictures). You can do this right in that dish, that's why it has to be on a large side.. Taste and add a little bit salt if you feel so.

 

- It's done! Enjoy! If you plane to kiss someone this night - just feed treat your guy/gal with this dip and you'll be fine :)

*********************************************************************************************************************************

IN PICTURES