Babaganooj Salad

[Twitchin Kitten]

I saw this recipe on TV yesterday morning and it looked so good I had to try it. I'm not a fan of babaganooj, but this looked amazing. It's relatively easy to make and it's an absolute explosion of flavor. This is some bold stuff.

The woman on TV making this has a cookbook called Modern Flavors of Arabia (by Suzanne Husseini). needless to say, I bought the book too.

Babagannoj Salad

calories per cup: 73.15 (round up to 74) - this does not include the bread. check your bag of pita bread for the calorie count as they vary by brand

Ingredients

• 4 medium Eggplants. I like the white ones.
  
• 1 Shallot, finely chopped
  
• 4 Scallions (green onion) - sliced thin and use only the white parts
  
• 20 Cherry tomatoes seeded & cut in quarters
  
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 1/4 c parsley
  
• 1/4 c fresh mint
  
• 1/2 c walnuts - chopped and toasted
  
• Handful of pomegranate seeds
  
• pomegranate molasses (find this in Mid East stores)
  
• extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed fine
  
• sea salt
  

Pierce the eggplants all over with a fork and place them on a charcoal or gas grill over medium heat. If you don't have a grill you can use your broiler.
Keep turning them evenly to char the skin. It will blacken and begin to collapse after 25-30 minutes.
Remove and place in a colander or on a rack to drain some of the juices.

When cool enough, slice in half lengthwise. Peel away the charred skin and place in a colander to drain further.

While they are cooling, chop your scallions, shallots, mint and parsley. Toast your walnuts and get the seeds out of the pomegranate.
Cut up your cherry tomatoes.
Set all this aside for now.

Chop the eggplant into small chunks and place in a bowl.

Add the green onions, shallot, garlic, lemon juice and salt.
Lastly, add the tomatoes and toss gently, taking care not to mash the eggplant.

Sprinkle on the parsley and mint.

Spoon onto small serving plates, then scatter the walnuts on top garnish with the pomegranate seeds and drizzle a little pomegranate molasses on top. Drizzle the olive oil and serve immediately.

You can also put the whole thing on one large serving plate and have everyone just 'dig in'.

DO NOT OVERDOSE THE MOLASSES! The lemon juice and the pomegranate are both very tart, very strong flavors. You need to be careful you don't make them clash.

Serve with crostini (toasted Italian bread slices) or toasted pita wedges (like bruschetta).
*If you toast the pita wedges, cut the bread into wedges first, then toast and allow the tips to char a little. The char gives a wonderful flavor to the whole salad.

Click image for full size (better photo coming soon)
this was my first attempt at this salad and as you can see I managed to mash up the eggplants