Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

My thoughts go to Beirut today ❣.

The first tahini was a present of an old friend, Daniel, who lived near Beirut for a few months a year. Since then I always have tahini paste in the fridge, and, they sell it even here, the exact same brand. The mixture of lemon juice, tahini, greek yogurt, pepper and salt is the best sauce ever to combine with vegetables, meat and even fish. There is no standard recipe. You really need to taste. Even without yogurt it’s delicious, but in that case, dilute the sauce with water. The combination of roasted eggplant, minced meat (or a vegetarian alternative) and tahini sauce transfer me to the Middle East and all those countries which are on my travel bucket list.

For the tahini sauce, mix 250 ml of greek yogurt with 1/1,5 table spoon of tahini, a pinch of cinnamon and the juice of 1 lemon. Taste, add pepper and salt. Store in the fridge.

Slice a few eggplants (1 kilo for 3p) in slices of 1 cm. Brush them with oil. Grill at both sides. Season with pepper and salt. Spread on a large plate.

Chop and fry 4 garlic cloves, 1 onion and 1 chili in a drizzle of olive oil. Add 250 grams of good quality minced meat, 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds. Bake and stir. Add 2 table spoons of concentrated pome granate sauce ( or syrupy balsamic vinegar as alternative). Finish with pepper, salt.

Serve the eggplant, minced meat and roasted pine nuts with freshly chopped parsley and mint. Finish with the tahini sauce, lemon wedges and warm piadini or other flatbread.