Baba Ghanoush with Dulse Seaweed

I've been using seaweeds in and as food for long enough now. I've got into the the swing of which seaweeds to match with what recipe and amounts to use. Dulse (Palmaria palmata) with potatoes is traditional, in bread feels natural and, I feel, has long wanted to be matched with Baba Ghanoush.

Baba Ghanoush is an Arabic dish using charred aubergines, giving a mildly smoky flavour to this delicious dip. The name roughly translates as 'daddy spoils you' and it does taste rather decadent. Matched with dulse, my favourite dried seaweed to snack on, adds an umami flavour, a little mineral rich salt and plenty of nutrition.

I have a standard Baba Ghanoush recipe that I've used for years. A straight-forward recipe from Daverick Leggett's book 'Recipes for Self-Healing' where Daverick also goes through the energetics of food. He describes Baba Ghanoush as nourishing for the blood and yin - this will make sense if you read more in his Recipes for Self-Healing book.

Back to the recipe. Baba Ghanoush is so delicious, so decadent, so easy to make, and, in some ways very similar to hummus. Except there are no beans to give you flatulence, though I have a seaweed recipe for that too! Look up the Kelp Hummus recipe in my seaweed book for flatulence-free chickpea hummus, with a little added seaweed.

Who would know that blending the flesh of aubergines with garlic, lemon, tahini and seaweed could be so awesome. This recipe makes a fair amount, which meant I was able to enjoy it on toast, on the top of squash soup, and on the beach with sea lettuce bread on yesterday's seaweed course. Here's the recipe.

Baba Ghanoush with Dulse Seaweed

An Arabian dish perfect for dipping freshly cut vegetables into, or spreading onto bread. Inspired by Daverick Leggett's recipe and given a seaweed twist.

Ingredients

3 aubergines
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp dark tahini
Juice of 2 lemons
Sea salt and pepper to taste
5 g dried and ground dulse seaweed
Olive oil to garnish and to taste

Burn the aubergines. Either on the highest temperature in the oven or on an open flame until they go soft and squidgy. Scoop out the insides, or peel off the skin and blend the flesh with the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle with a good olive oil and serve. Lasts well for a week, if you hide it and don't eat it all at once.

Find out more about Dulse

Dulse is one of the seaweeds I teach regularly on my seaweed courses, I've also written about Drying Dulse at Home and here's my Dulse soda Bread Recipe. In my seaweed book (as well as my courses), I describe where to find Dulse, what seasons to harvest it, how to harvest it sustainably and nutritional benefits.