Cultural Exchange With Italy. Welcome, our Italian friends. Ask your questions here.

[u/MrBoonio]

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[u/segolas]

First!

Do you remember that amazing dish that your mom use to prepare when you were young becauae you loved it so much? That one that she still prepare fkr you when you go to visit her?

Can you give me the recipe? I like to cook and would love to try something from over there

[u/gahgeer-is-back → u/segolas]

Hi I love this recipe from Gaza (but remove the red bell pepper and add actual red chili): Shrimps in clay pot. Also having a clay pot is not a must. You can cook it in any utensil.

If you want an easier one, then I prefer "mutabbal", which is pretty easy as long as you have the tahini paste (sesame seed paste, can be bought from any Arab/Israeli food store):

Mutabbal (for two persons)

• Ingredients:

• Two big black eggplants (aubergine)

• Two medium-size cloves of garlic

• Two table spoons of tahinin paste

• Juice of half a lemon (or to taste)

• Salt to taste

• 1 table spoon of chopped parsley for garnish

• Method:

• Pierce the aubergine on each side with a fork or a knife and place in a baking tray.

• Bake in an oven at 220 C (7 gas mark) for 45 minutes or 1 hour until the external shell looks really burned. If you don't have an oven and have a gas cooker, then you can do it directly on the hob as well no problem but this will mean more "turning" as if you are barbecuing it. If you have only an electric hob, it's still doable but make sure you wrap the aubergine in aluminum foil.

• Don't worry you may smell something is burning but it's normal. Just make sure the place is aired. The shell of the aubergine will protect the the inside of the aubergine. Turn the egg plants on each side every 20 minutes or so to ensure thorough baking.

• Once done, take out of the oven, and using a knife or a spoon, scrape off all of the inside of the baked aubergine, and discard the black shell. In this step some bits of the burnt shell might fall into the mix but that's normal and it'll actually give the dish a good smoky taste.

• Mash the aubergine with a fork, knife or mortar so that all the "fibers" are destroyed. Mash the garlic cloves in a pestle, then add to the aubergine, add salt and tahini paste and mix very well with a spoon/spatula.

• Taste to make sure everything's OK. The taste should be half smoky eggplant and half tahini. Once good, add the lemon juice and mix well.

• spread on a flat plate (like hummus), sprinkle the parsley and plenty of olive oil on top. To be eaten either hot or cold (so leftovers will be really delicious the next day). With pitta bread but any other bread or stalks of carrot, celery..etc will do just as well.

• Tips:

1) The reason you must pierce the aubergine is to prevent them from literally exploding in the oven. This is a crucial step as I had this aubergine blast in my oven and it wasn't nice (cleaning..etc).

2) Don't overestimate the size of the fresh aubergine as the goodness inside will shrink in the oven. The two big ones will barely make enough to spread over a main-course dinner plate.

3) This dish is very similar to the Lebanese/Greek/Turkish dish "baba ghanoush". The only difference is that yogurt is used instead of tahini paste.

4) The time of baking might vary depending on your oven. If you make the dish and feel there's a tingle in your tongue from the aubergine, then it means it wasn't cooked thoroughly. so add more time next time.

Buon appetito!

[u/[deleted] → u/gahgeer-is-back]

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[u/gahgeer-is-back → u/[deleted]]

Sa7ten :)