After making the Eggplant Dengaku (coming soon), we happened to have quite a bit of leftover eggplant, so I searched for recipes that would use them up and came across Eggplant Kibbeh (page 82). It reminded me (ingredients-wise) of some kind of tabbouleh dish, and it is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean in origin, so I suppose that’s not too far off.
I followed the recipe exactly, minus measuring out the salt, because I am trying to appreciate natural flavors without automatically dousing them in sodium. It’s hard, but my tastebuds are adapting slowly. The produce place didn’t have any plum tomatoes so I just got what was available and used those. Surprisingly, the mint garnish also really does wonders for melding all the flavors together. I also made a batch of hummus (page 137) which went well with every couple of bites.
The overall verdict was that this dish was super delicious, filling, and healthy. It is also pretty easy to make, and both of us liked it (someone else might have taken the leftovers to work for lunch…). The only suggestion for improvement from M. was more garlic! Funny thing is, the recipe calls for 4 cloves and I used 5 or 6. So the next batch actually will have whole garlic cloves in it. We will see how that changes things…
Made: January 8, 2013