Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Marvelous Mutabbal

Sunday the Austin Food Bloggers gathered for another potluck. This month’s theme was Hatch chile peppers. Our local markets have giant roasters and for the past two weeks have provided us with the most delicious peppers.

I really didn’t want to be the cliché vegan bringing hummus to the party, and I came awfully close by selecting Mutabbal for my dish. I got the idea from Bryanna Clark Grogan. Mutabbal is basically a spicy version of baba ganoush. Bryanna’s recipe didn’t actually use any peppers though, just chile powder, so I improvised my own tasty recipe. I thought my Mutabbal turned out fabulously, and it got raves at the potluck. One guest said it was her favorite dish at the party, which I take as quite a compliment coming from a group of accomplished and creative foodies. So if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some Hatch chiles, this would be a great way to use them. If not, a poblano or even a jalapeno would work as well.




Mutabbal

(This recipe serves 12, but can easily be halved.)

Ingredients:

3 large eggplants, totaling about 3-1/2 pounds
12 cloves garlic, cut into several long wedges
½ pound roasted Hatch chile peppers
6 T. tahini
4 T. EVOO
4 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley, plus more to garnish
¼ cup toasted chopped walnuts, to garnish
pomegranate seeds, to garnish

Directions:

Prepare your outdoor grill and set it to high. Wash the eggplants and trim the tops, but don’t cut off the tops. Make many slits on each eggplant and insert the garlic wedges into the slits. Place the eggplants on the grill and grill until the eggplants are very soft, about 20 minutes. Turn the eggplants every 5 minutes to char evenly. Remove to a plate to cool. They will look like this:


When the eggplants are cool, remove the charred skins and chop off the tops. Place the eggplants with the garlic into a food processor. Pulse a few times. Add the roasted peppers, tahini, EVOO, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Puree until almost smooth (a little chunky is nice). Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice to your tastes. Let chill for several hours or overnight; it keeps well for several days.

Spread the eggplant mixture onto a platter. Garnish with the parsley, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds. Serve with pita chips.



Not only does it look beautiful, but it tastes out of this world!

Here’s a few pictures from the potluck. Every dish was made with Hatch chiles, including brownies, cookies, breads, mac n’ cheese, Indian food, sandwiches, popcorn, gazpacho, and a fabulous vegan orzo pasta.




Rachel brought a delicious vegan peach cobbler with Hatch biscuits.



I think my favorite was the Hatch chile vodka served with habanero ice cubes – yum!



I hope you enjoy the Mutabbal recipe, and by the way, eat’n veg’n is now three years old!

24 comments:

autumn_leaves said...

the pom seeds added are a great touch! The dish looks so colourful and appetizing!! =)
would have loved to try Hatch brownies. Spicy chocolate, i like!

LK said...

Happy 3 year anniversary!

Never heard of Mutabbal, but the eggplant at the farmer's market here has been so delicious! Parley, eggplant, tahini, garlic, with some spicy peppers sounds yummy.

Anonymous said...

That looks gorgeous and sounds delicious! I especially love the pretty pomegranate seeds :-)

Jes said...

The Mutabbal looks delish! & happy blogiversary!

Amey said...

Happy Blogday! What a great post. I've never even heard of hatch chilies before, but now I'm going to go do some research. Thanks so much for the mutabbal recipe, Musty LOVES eggplant, so I know he'll be happy. Funny, because just this weekend I heard something on the radio about grilling whole entire eggplants, and I instantly knew it was a great idea!

ps. My miracle tablets arrived safely, thanks again!

Gina said...

Sounds very yummy! I do also love the idea of the cobbler with the peppers in the biscuit part. It all sounds great, and looks like a fun time.

Ricki said...

Wow--three years! Congrats! Your dish looks fantastic. No wonder it was a fave! The pomegranate seeds add a beautiful gloss and color. :)

The Voracious Vegan said...

I am in the land of delicious moutabbel over here in Saudi and I have to say, when it is done right I love it even more than hummus. Your sounds (and looks) amazing! Thank you for the recipe!

urban vegan said...

Love the polka dots of pomegranate--so Middle Eastern. And I love anything with eggplant...

The get together looks like fun.

Happy B'day, EatnVegn!

Bianca said...

I'm not very familiar with different kinds of chilis but I'd like to learn. Your dish looks fantastic! BTW, I made some raw zucchini noodles and topped them with guac last night for raw food day...an idea I got from you! Very, very tasty.

Kris said...

Wow! You all are very daring to eat so much spice in one meal. I'm afraid pepper and I aren't friends, but it all looks amazing.

jessy said...

you austin food bloggers know how to throw one tasty potluck! i’ve never had mutabbal, and i can’t wait to try it! so awesome on your dish being a favorite! yay! the peach cobbler looks so good – and the hatch chile vodka sounds so awesome! happy three years to eat’n veg’n, Diann! that rocks so hard!

Blasé said...

If it tastes better than it looks...I'll pass out!

Hannah said...

Now this is one dish I've never had before, but it definitely looks and sounds like it's right up my alley! I'm putting eggplant on my shopping list right now so I can make some asap. :)

eatme_delicious said...

Congratulations on 3 years! =) Your dip is gorgeous and makes me want to dive in (or dip in)! I think I've only tried an eggplant dip once before.

Meg Wolff said...

Diann,
You're the chili pepper queen. Cool that you have roasters at your Farmers' Markets. I've never seen one.

LK Sisters said...

Forgot to mention that since it's your blog-birthday, wouldn't it be nice to win free products?

We are having a contest to win a sampler of Artisana Raw Nut Butters/Coconut products. Check out our blog for more details.

Thanks!

Bill Medifast said...

This looks absolutely delicious. I've been trying to think of something to make for our families big family reunion and this might be the new winner. Love that it feeds so many people.

Thanks for sharing this.

Andrea said...

This looks like a great dish to bring to a pot luck.

Happy Third!

Erin said...

Happy blogiversary!

Your potluck contribution is so pretty. Haha, I always like to go to potlucks with other bloggers and not be the only nerd there taking pictures of the food instead of the people.

Still Life in South America said...

What a beautiful and delicious dish! My hubby would love that spicy eggplant.

The potluck sounds awesome; I'm sure it was fun talking to so many likeminded foodies. The peach cobbler sounds heavenly.

Happy blog birthday! :-)

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