Caramelised Cumin Aubergine and Opito Bay Black Garlic sea Salt w/ Tahini Yogurt

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Black Garlic Salt Aubergine & Caramelised Onion

1 red onion, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon brown sugar

1 aubergine, cut into 2cm strips 

2 teaspoons cumin seeds 

¼ cup olive oil + more for serving 

Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt 

Tahini Yogurt Base 

1 cup unsweetened greek yogurt 

1 teaspoon hulled tahini 

1 lemon, juiced 

Salt to taste - I couldn’t more highly recommend the Original Natural Opito Bay Sea Salt 

To serve

Bread of your choice, toasted; I recommend sourdough, foccacia or turkish style bread 

small handful of coriander, torn

Pinch of chilli powder

more olive oil to drizzle 

even more Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt, because I can’t get enough 

Method 

1. Thinly slice one red onion. 

2. Add ¼ cup olive oil to a pan on medium-low heat. Add ½ a teaspoon of Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt, ½ teaspoon brown sugar and the sliced red onion to the pan. 

3. Allow to caramelise on medium-low heat. If it’s burning then turn the heat down. Occasionally give it some attention and stir; roughly every minute or so. The caramelisation process can take up to 10 minutes so be patient with this. 

4. In the meantime, you can cut the aubergine into 2cm wide strips. 

5. If you have cut up the aubergine and you still are waiting for your onions to caramelise, then mix together 1 cup greek yogurt, one teaspoon of hulled tahini and the juice of one lemon. Add a pinch of any white salt (but of course my preference would be for you to use the Original Natural Opito Bay Sea Salt) and stir well. Taste the tahini yogurt base and add more salt as you desire (some yogurts are saltier than others). 

6. Once your onions have almost caramelised (they look a deep purpley-brown), add in the sliced aubergine strips, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and 1 ½ teaspoons of Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt. Stir and cook until aubergine’s have turned a dark brown colour as shown in the pictures. Taste and add more Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt as you like. 

7. To plate up, on a beautiful serving plate of your choice, dollop all the tahini yogurt you made earlier and spread across the plate. Pile up the caramelised black garlic aubergine and onion mixture in the centre. Pile up the torn coriander on top. Grab a pinch of chilli powder and sprinkle across the yogurt and aubergines. Do the same with the Opito Bay Black Garlic Salt and sprinkle over the yogurt for a beautiful black and white contrast. Drizzle some olive oil on top and bon appetit!

 Serve with toasted artisan bread of your choice!