Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Yogurt

After tasting this at my local farmer's market, I knew I had to come home and duplicate it immediately. After a couple variations, I whipped up a big batch for my lunches for the week, carting a quarter each day to work. Normally I like to work this way since I get bored of one meal rather quickly, but I easily could have made a month's worth without ever getting tired of it.

As usual, much of this recipe depends on having good quality ingredients. Make sure you get fresh, local eggplant. I used the fairy tale version that is light purple and a bit striped, but really any species of eggplant will work just fine as long as it's fresh and tasty! Also make sure you're purchasing a good quality olive oil. This makes all the difference in most recipes, but in a recipe as simple as this one it's especially important. This doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune, though. I actually really enjoy the fanciest version of Whole Food's 365 brand cold-pressed olive oil. It's affordable without sacrificing flavor and quality.

Difficulty: easy
Time: 30 min (plus setting time for tahini yogurt)
Cost: $9.80

Nutrition and recipe below the jump!



Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Yogurt
Ingredients:
6 oz plain fat-free yogurt
4 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 box cous cous
5 small fairy tale eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin, ground

Make the tahini yogurt first. Combine the yogurt, tahini paste, lemon juice, salt, and garlic in a bowl. Mix until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but preferably an hour or more.

Next, cook the cous cous according to the directions on the box. I used an olive oil and garlic cous cous, but you can use plain or any other variety that goes well with these flavors.

Finally, get your grill heating to medium high to high heat. Cut the end off the eggplant and slice in half or quarters lengthwise, depending on thickness. You want the pieces to be long so they can go on the grill, but just about 1/2" thick.

Place the eggplant on the grill, skin-side down. Pour the olive oil into a little dish and use a pastry brush to brush the olive oil evenly over the tops of all the eggplant slices. Sprinkle the cumin evenly over the tops of the eggplants.

Grill for 4-5 minutes and then flip. Grill for another 4-5 minutes or until tender and well cooked.

To serve, split the cous cous into four equal portions. Split the eggplant slices evenly into four and put them on top of the cous cous. Finally, evenly divide the tahini yogurt and heap it on the eggplant and cous cous.

Servings: 4
Serving size: about 3/4 c cous cous, 1 c eggplant, 1/4 c sauce
Nutrition: calories 386; carbs 48g; fat 16g; protein 11g; sodium 487mg; iron 9mg