Recipe: Eggplant and Chickpea Dip

A co-worker of mine gave me this recipe. It is super easy and gluten free, too.

What you will need:

1 large eggplant

400g can chickpeas

quarter cup lemon juice (or slightly less if you don't want it too lemony)

1 to 2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)

1 to 2 tsp ground cumin

1 to 2 tsp sweet paprika

2 tbsp pine nuts

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Method:

Grab a baking tray and some foil. Scrunch the foil into a cradle shape to hold the eggplant. Thoroughly pierce the eggplant all over with a fork. Place in foil cradle on baking tray and bake in oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 1 hour or until the eggplant has caved in on itself and is soft.

When done, slice it open and scoop out the flesh. Pop it into a blender or food processor . Add the chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and paprika. Blend until smooth. Spoon into a ramekin or two and sprinkle a little bit of paprika, pine nuts and parsley over the top.

Serve with crackers or vegetable sticks. I tend not to add any salt to this dip, as the salt from crackers usually is enough but if you are using veggie sticks instead, add a dash of salt if you want.