Eggplant Salad with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Patlıcan Salatası)

In Middle Eastern cuisine, this dish is called babaganush. In Turkish, tahina is replaced by yogurt and is already called eggplant salad. In any case, it is very tasty. The version with yogurt is more summer, fresh and light in my opinion.

Ingredients

• eggplant 3 pcs.
• garlic 3-4 pcs.
• thick yogurt 250 ml
• ground red pepper 1/2 tsp
• sugar 1/2 tsp
• salt
• olive oil 3 tablespoons
• lemon juice 2 tablespoons
• bitter green pepper 1 pc.
• parsley 1/3

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Wash the eggplants, dry, cut lengthwise, sprinkle with salt and grease with vegetable oil. Place (backs) on a greased baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the aroma of baked eggplants comes out and the top is lightly browned. The same can be done on the grill, if available, it will be even tastier. Cool the finished eggplants and remove the pulp from them with a spoon.
2. Wash and dry the parsley and hot pepper (if used). Cut hot peppers lengthwise, remove seeds and chop in a blender with garlic or chop with a knife. Chop the parsley finely.
3. Chop the eggplant pulp with a knife, transfer to a deep bowl, add garlic, parsley, green pepper, yogurt. Mix everything well and then add sugar, salt, red pepper and lemon juice, focusing on your own taste. Add olive oil to the ready-made spread.
4. You can store such a spread in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for about a week.
5. When serving, garnish with sun-dried tomatoes and mint leaves. Serve with crackers, toasted bread, cucumber slices and celery sticks. * According to Irina Taro's recipe