My inspiration for this dish was an amazing product which is black garlic. I must admit that I fell in love with it right from the start.
The black garlic is made when heads of garlic are aged under special conditions of heat and humidity. It looses its sharpness and gets sweet and syrupy, deep flavour.
It works just perfectly as a part of meet, fish or veggies marinade. I've combined it with aubergines and this marriage turened out just perfectly.
Makes 2 servings (as a mail dish) or 4 servings (as a starter)
- 2 aubergines
- 100 grams bulgur, cooked accordingly to instructions
- 200 ml natural or Greek yoghurt
- 2 chillies (not too spicy), sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic (big ones), sliced thinly
- 1 big handful of mixed fresh herbs (basil, mint, parsley, coriander)
- 3 tbsp black garlic paste
- 1/2 preserved lemon or zest finely grated from 1 lemon + lemon juice
- pomegranate seeds, for decorations
- salt
- canola oil
-
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (no fan).
Cut aubergines in half lengwise. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for a 15-20 minutes. Pat dry with paper towel. Cut the flesh crosswise 1-1,5cm deep. Do not cut the skin.
Brush the aubergine's flesh with black garlic paste making sure you cover the flesh precisely.
Layer the baking tray with parchment paper. Layer the aubergines skin side down and bake for about 30-40 minutes until they are soft and nicely brown. You can put them under the grill for the last few minutes but be careful not to burn them.
In the meantime mix the cooked bulgur with juice from 1/2 lemon and a piece of preserved lemon, chopped finely. If you don't have one, you can use a zest of one lemon instead.
Mix yoghurt with 1 tbsp of black garlic, pinch of salt and small squeeze of lemon juice. Set aside.
In a small pot heat about 3cm of canola oil. When hot put chilli slices in and fry them until nice and golden. Drain them on a kitchen towel.
Repeat this part with slices of fresh garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic as it will turn bitter.
Place a dollop of yoghurt on a bottom of a plate*. Place the baked aubergine on top. Top it with lemon bulgur, fried chillies and garlic and herbs. Sprinkle everything with pomegranate seeds and some more lemon zest.
Serve hot.
Enjoy!
*You can serve the yoghurt in a small bowl on the side.
Sounds absolutely delicious, and the picture is gorgeous!
Thank you KIKI for you nice comment. It was absolutely delicious 🙂