Aubergine caviar and black garlic hummus
Black garlic
I guess I was a bit early with the black garlic post that you can see here because now I see that social media are buzzing with black garlic and its benefits. And back then, I thought no one would be interested in something as abstract.
Either way, in that post, I told you the way I make it…and today I will write about different ways I use it, too.
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- CAVIAR D'AUBERGINE:
- 600 gr of aubergine
- 180 gr of tomatoes
- 60 gr of olive oil
- 6 gr of salt
- 6 gr of sugar
- 3 thyme branches
- 1 garlic clove
- Fresh coriander (to taste)
- 5cl sherry vinegar (or lemon juice)
- salt, pepper to taste
- HUMMUS:
- HUMMUS:
- 300 gr of chickpeas
- 1 bigger carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, leek)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 150 gr of tahini
- 5cl of lemon juice
- 10 cl of olive oil
- a bit of powdered cumin
- lots of fresh coriander
- black garlic clove
- salt, pepper to taste
Instruction
- Wash and clean all the vegetables.
- Soak the dry chickpeas in water the night before.
- Clean the black garlic and separate the cloves. Then, soak them in lukewarm water and leave them to hydrate for at least 60 minutes.
- Cut the aubergine lengthwise, salt it, and put the garlic. Bake for about 30 minutes at 180°C. Adjust the time to the size of the aubergine.
- Once it's baked, peel it and put it in a blender where it will wait for the rest of the ingredients.
- Cut the tomato on the backside (make a little cross) and blanch it from 15 to 30 seconds in boiling water. Take it out and shock it with cold water. Peel the skin, take the seed out and cut it into slices.
- Put the tomato on baking paper, and then put it in the oven at 80°C for 60 minutes.
- Once it's done, put it in a blender together with aubergine, and then add the rest of the ingredients for aubergine caviar and mix them. You should get a texture of a spread.
- MAKING HUMMUS: Mix chickpeas, carrot, onion, bouquet garni, garlic and pour the water over (or soup for a better taste). Cook until everything softens.
- Once the chickpeas are cooked, strain the water, keep the carrot and onion (if it was big, take just one half), garlic. Leave a bit of liquid in which everything was cooked.
- Put everything into a blender, add tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, and lots of fresh coriander. Mix to get the texture of a spread.
- Add the hydrated black garlic in one part of hummus and mix everything once more.
- You can use these spreads for crackers, or as a sauce for fresh crispy vegetables. It goes well with beer if you like it.
- You can decorate with micro greens and enhance the aroma.
- Enjoy!
The first time I heard about it was when I was in France. We used it for various sauces. And it really added a fantastic sweet flavor to the entire dish. You can taste its aroma, but after consuming it, you don’t smell like it.
Aubergine caviar
Vegetable appetizer
The original name for this dish is Caviar d’aubergines, France. The French like eating this baba ghanoush so much 🙂 And it was made all the time in the restaurant I worked in. It’s great as an appetizer for every occasion, and if you like to nibble while chatting with friends and wine. You can use different spices every time you make it because they all go well with aubergine. So, every time you can make a spread that tastes differently.
It can last long, and the longer it lasts the better it tastes. But you will like it so much that it won’t last long 🙂
How is the caviar made?
You need aubergine, which you will cut in half lengthwise, season with salt and garlic, and bake in the oven. You can wrap it in Aluminum foil, bake it and season it later.
Tomato is an excellent addition, but this time we will add a bit of extravagance, so we’ll dry it in the oven. Blanch the tomato in boiling water for a maximum of 30 seconds, if the tomato is big. Peel it, remove the seeds, cut in slices, and put in the oven at 80°C for 60 minutes.
This is the entire work. The rest is spices and a mixture of everything…
You need olive oil, thyme, garlic, curry, fresh coriander, and sherry vinegar (you don’t have to use this exact vinegar if you don’t have it).
Now the mixing…you have already baked the aubergine, peeled it, and put it in a blender. You added dried tomatoes to it and the ingredients, mixed it, and got the Caviar d’aubergines.
Black garlic hummus
This is another vegetable appetizer, but you are already familiar with it. You can experiment with these types of vegetable spreads and test the spices you have just bought.
I make hummus like this…I cook chickpeas, which I soaked the evening before. I cook them together with carrots, onion, garlic…I put a bit of parsley and thyme like bouquet garni.
Once everything is done, I strain it, take the bouquet garni out, and mix the rest with a bit of water in which everything was cooked. I add tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, and the phenomenal coriander which goes perfectly with all of this. Since I tried hummus with a lot of coriander, I make it more often. To be honest, I was not such a fan of hummus before.
Mix everything together and you will get a spread texture. You can put it on crackers, sourdough bread etc…
Another option for a vegetable and hummus appetizer
It’s everything from the previous title, but with the addition of black garlic.
Since my black garlic was quite dry, I put it in water to retrieve a bit of its hydration and so that I can make a paste out of it. For that, you need at least one hour of hydrating in water or some natural tea. So I put it in water before I started making the rest, because of time.
So, black garlic cloves first, and then the rest.
I mixed it with hummus and it was great. Sweet, caramelized, fresh…you can imagine everything in one spread…It’s hard to imagine, but it works.
And you can see what everything looked like in the pictures.
I can tell you we really enjoyed it.