Aubergine dip/salad recipe

[WashAsDelicates]

My mum used to made an aubergine dish a bit like baba ganoush, but without the tahini. She would start by baking whole aubergines until they were charred and collapsed, which seemed to take hours. IIRC she then mashed them and mixed with olive oil, salt, minced garlic and, possibly, minced raw onion.

Does anyone know what this dish might have been called?

Could I save time by microwaving the aubergine instead of baking?

What is usually served as baba ghanoush in the West is what would be called mutabal in the Middle East.

Mutabal is the dip with added tahini and sometimes yoghurt. In the Middle East baba ghanoush has no tahini and chopped vegetables mixed in,

Anyway, both are lush.

You certainly can microwave the aubergine, but I think the slightly smoky flavour from baking or roasting is essential.

A very similar dip is called melitzanosalata in Greek.

Poster above said exactly what I came to say. Both are delicious, absolutely love the stuff.

Yes, microwaving wouldn't give the smokiness of slightly charring the aubergine. Perhaps I can speed it up by roasting on combi, convection + microwave.

Microwaving would leave it very bland. Grilling over charcoal is fabulous for flavour if you can do it.

However, I am also firmly of the opinion that you do what you can at the time so if that’ll what you have to do, then that’s what you do. Extra garlic, lemon or even some smoked paprika might help.

Liquid smoke. You would still want to roast and char to get most of the flavour but it's a kitchen MVP for all kinds of things.

Did she have any Hungarian/Romanian family connections?

Padliszánkrém is a popular dish in Budapest and is like a simpler version of baba ganoush/muttabal. Usually served just with bread and dipping veg.

Hard to find a non Hungarian recipe but this blog describes making it the traditional way in a lot of detail.

thatbestbite.com/2014/12/07/padlizsan-krem/

Padlizsánkrén is the correct spelling oops!

Padlizsánkrém 🤦🏼‍♀️

Previous attempts with the vegetable always involved were slicing salting draining. etc.
Then I did Fast 800 which features aubergine as the base for lamb mince.This was just halve, rub with oil, salt and pepper. Perfect aubergine in 20 minutes. I put them in the air fryer now so it’s even quicker.. I make something like moussaka with an egg added to yogurt for the sauce. Takes about 15 minutes all in.

www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/melitzanosalata-aubergine-salad-dip/

It's this maybe? A Greek recipe.

That is IT, manictuesday! Right down to the picture of the aubergines charring on the white gas stove. And peeling the skin carefully off while dangling the hideous thing by the stem, and then mincing it by chopping. I'd forgotten those details. In the days before smoke detectors, dm used to roast the aubergines on the stove.

DM's Romanian MIL must have taught her to make it.

I loathed the stuff when I was a kid. Probably why I never actually learned how to make it. I like it now, but it's very difficult to find in shops. Now I know how to make it again!

No idea about your mother's dish but I saw Jar of Fireflies on YouTube a dish that is a really nice dip.

Bake auberges until soft.
Leave in a colander to drain any bitter juice and to cool.

Take out the aubergine mash and mix with mayo.

That's it. Tastes wonderful.

Great! I love it, such a nice dish. Haven't had it in ages, may attempt myself now too.

Although on the aubergine theme, my all time favourite tapas dish is berenjenas con miel. Mmm.

I need one of those mesh plates to put on the gas hob!

In case anyone is interested, I achieved the smoke flavour without setting off the smoke detectors by mixing in a generous pinch or two of lapsang souchong tea. It takes an hour or so for the smoke to really permeate the dish, and you can’t really taste tea at all.

You’re clever @WashAsDelicates .