As much as I love hummus, Baba Ghanoush is the starter I order every time. The tangy smokey flavour with olive oil and warm flat bread is just the best and once the aubergines are roasted, the rest is easy peasy.

Recipe

Classic Baba Ghanoush dip

• 3 medium Aubergines

• A bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

• 2 bell peppers, roughly chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 3 tbsp tahini

• 2 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp salt or to taste

• Juice of 1 lemon
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Place aubergines in a roasting tin and roast for 1 hour, flipping 3 or 4 times throughout.

2. In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients, except the lemon juice, in a food processor and blend until well combined.

3. Once the aubergines are out of the oven and have cooled down for a bit, hold from the stem with one hand and with the other cut through to split in half with a knife. The flesh should easily fall out.

4. Roughly mash with a fork then add to the rest of the ingredients along with the lemon juice to the food processor. Blitz a few times to blend everything together but still keep it a chunky dip. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and chopped parsley. Bel hana!

'Bel hana' is a shorter version of 'bel hana wel shefa' which roughly translates to 'with happiness and good health' and the Egyptian way of saying Bon Appetit.

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