International Potluck Blogfest - Babaganough

International Potluck Blogfest
Do you have a favorite recipe? A dish everyone loves?
Share it with us! 

Today Beth Fred, Medeia Sharif and I are hosting the International Potluck Blogfest.  

Here are the rules:

~ Put the bloghop badge on your post.
~ Post the cover of a book you love (it can be your own) with a food and/or recipe from the book, or a food from the MC's region, or any food you just like!
~ Link back to Beth, Media, and Lexa. All three of us.
~ A copy of Beth's Finding Hope, Medeia's Snip, Snip, Revenge, and Lexa's Soul Cutter, plus a $10 Amazon gift card will be given away via Rafflecopter! (The Rafflecopter is at the end of the post)

Soul Cutter

YA Horror/Romance

     The Soul Cutter is hunting again.
     Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online. Skepticism makes life safe—all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search.
     In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start—the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. Élan's only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn—and hiding dangerous secrets.
     When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.
     Élan is fighting for her very soul.


My novel, Soul Cutter, takes place mostly in Egypt, so my recipe is Egyptian (Middle Eastern).  It's a dip called Babaganough, made with eggplants and sesame paste -- it's yummy and healthy!

BABAGANOUGH
(Appetizer for 8-10 people)

4-5 medium eggplants (about 3 pounds)
1 small bottle of tahini (sesame paste) 200 grams/8 oz.
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 tablespoons oil
water if necessary (it usually is)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1. Cut off eggplant stems. Prick with fork on two sides. Place on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven for 1 hour, turning the eggplants every 15 minutes so they don't burn. They should be soft and mushy at the end. If not, continue baking until they are. Remove from oven. Let cool for 1 hour.
2. Cut eggplant in half and gently peel the insides out of the skin and chop into little pieces (or mince in a food processor). Place in bowl.

3. P0ur tahini in a separate bowl. (If there is thick paste adhering to the bottom of the bottle, pour in the lemon juice and a little hot water and mix to loosen.) Add the garlic, lemon juice, and oil. If the tahini is dark, thick, and mealy looking, mix in a small amount of water until the tahini lightens in color and looks creamy.
4. Add salt, pepper, cumin, parsley, and dill. Mix thoroughly.  
5. If there's excess liquid in the eggplant bowl, pour it out, and add the eggplant to the tahini bowl. Mix.
6. Babaganough can be eaten with pita bread, crackers, breadsticks, carrot sticks, or cucumber slices.

a Rafflecopter giveaway