Mutabal (Eggplant Dip)

I grew up eating an eggplant dip very much like this. Everyone seems to call it baba ganouj here. It's very garlicky and delicious. This seems to be a very similar dish, but apparently "baba ganouj/ganoush" is something completely different in Syria and they call this dip "mutabal". It's a little less garlicky and more lemony than the version I grew up with, but very similar otherwise.

I strongly recommend charring the eggplant over an open flame if you can. It makes a world of difference. Personally, I think wood or charcoal gives a better flavour than gas. I've tried cooking my eggplants under a gas broiler and directly over a gas burner on the stove, but the flavour when I did them on a charcoal barbecue was much, much better. That said, if you don't have any way of doing a wood or charcoal fire, gas will work. And the dip will still be nice. It just won't have the same smoky element to it.

Mutabal

Slightly adapted from Our Syria by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 cloves garlic¹
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. tahini
• juice of 1 lemon²
• olive oil, to serve
• polegranate arils, to serve (optional)
• flatbread and/or veggies, to serve

Directions

1. Fire up your grill, preheat your broiler, or turn on a gas burner.
2. Poke the eggplants all over with a sharp knife.
3. Cook over (or under) open flame, turning occasionally, until the skin is blackened and crispy all over. The flesh will get very soft and the skin will begin to split. Make sure the eggplants are thoroughly charred over their entire surface.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Carefully peel off the blackened skin. Discard the skin and stems.
6. Mash or purée the flesh.
7. Crush the garlic and salt with a mortar and pestle and add it to the mashed eggplant.
8. Mix in the yogurt, tahini, and lemon juice.
9. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
10. Drizzle with olive oil.
11. Sprinkle a few pomegranate arils on top (if using)
12. Serve with wedges of flatbread for dipping.

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¹ If you're feeling lazy, you can swap out the fresh garlic for garlic paste. ^Back
2 I found my mutabal to be very lemony. I was using it for batrish, so the strong lemon flavour ended up balancing out with the other ingredients, but I think it would've been too strong on its own. If you're planning on serving the mutabal alone, it might be worth holding back half the lemon juice. Taste it and see if you think it needs the rest first. ^Back