Recipe Difficulty: Easy

Recipe Tags:

• Eggplant Hummus
• Roasted Eggplant Hummus
• Warm Hummus
• Hummus with Mushrooms
• Appetizer
• Dips
• Mezze

Warm Eggplant Hummus Recipe Notes
I've been eating warm hummus with sauteed mushrooms for a long time. I'm a bit of a hummus addict to be honest. Most of the hummus in my life has just regular chickpea hummus, sometimes with white beans, and even black beans.

Eggplant hummus is something I became obsessed with in Spain. I saw it on a lot of menus, and bought it several time at the grocery store. It's a variation I have been enjoying at home, delicious on it's own or topped with these mushrooms. (or anything else you would like!) There are chickpeas involved too, but this variation bulked up with roasted creamy eggplant might be my current favourite. 

You can make the recipe as is, or if you just want to make the eggplant hummus part and skip the mushrooms, do that. Sometimes that is what I do. If you like the idea of sauteed mushrooms on your hummus, but eggplant isn't your thing, make my regular creamy hummus. You'll find a great tip in that post for making the creamiest hummus ever. 

A note about the mushrooms
When I cook mushrooms, if I have dry red or white wine on hand I will deglaze my pan with a splash. It isn't necessary though. The dash of soy sauce I add, I just like the umami flavour, but again not necessary. You can absolutely make the mushrooms without those things, just make sure they are garlicky, seasoned with salt and pepper and a bit of lemon juice to brighten and you are good to go. Now that I am thinking about it, I would like to try a bit of sumac or harissa somewhere in this recipe to see how that goes.  

Ingredients

• 1 Eggplant, sliced length wise (Mine was 1lb 2oz)
• 1 x 540 ml can Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (+ a bit extra to drizzle)
• 1/4 cup water (or as needed to desired consistency)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (or more to your taste)
• 1/3 cup tahini
• salt and pepper​ to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400F 
2. Drizzle the cut side of the Eggplant with a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Season with S&P.
3. Place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in the oven until it has completely softened. The amount of time will depend on your oven and size of eggplant. Check after 20-25 minutes, then every 5 minutes after that until done.
4. Remove from oven and let cool until you are able to work with it.
5. Use a spatula to loosen from the pan and flip over. Scoop out all of the eggplant, and place in a food processor. I snack on the skins as I continue with the recipe. 
6. Add chickpeas and garlic to the food processor, blitz and scrape down sides.
7. Add remaining ingredients and puree mixture scraping down the sides a couple of times. I really let my food processor do some work here to make the hummus as creamy and smooth as possible. I add splashes of water until the hummus is thick, but quite fluid. 
8. If you want to heat up the hummus, you can either transfer it to an oven safe dish, cover with foil and heat in 350 F oven while you prepare the mushrooms. Or, you can also microwave hummus with great results. I honestly don't mind using my microwave for something like this.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Ingredients

• a bit of veg or olive oil for cooking
• ​1 lb button mushrooms (or any mixture of mushrooms, I use button because they are affordable and still really tasty)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• splash of dry wine of choice
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce 
• squeeze or two of lemon
• salt and pepper

Method

1. ​Get your pan nice and hot, add a couple drizzles of oil & then add your mushrooms. You want  caramelized shrooms, so make sure your pan is hot before they go in. Stir occasionally but keep in mind not stirring gives the part of mushroom touching the pan time to turn golden brown. 
2. Sautee for about 5 min then add chopped garlic and stir around for a couple more minutes. (you might need to add a bit more oil to the pan) Season with S + P 
3. Deglaze the pan with a splash of wine if desired. Add soy sauce if desired. 
4. Taste and season mushrooms with squeeze of lemon juice and more S & P until you think it tastes good. 
5. Top warm hummus with mushrooms, extra virgin olive oil and chopped parsley. 
6. Serve with your favourite grilled crusty bread or pita. 

This recipe comes from my father's wife Inna. They met and got married in Ukraine, and since I've known her she has made this dip. It's always on the table as part of a bigger Ukrainian feast or served up as a casual snack. I've been obsessed with it for years now. I'm always sent home with a container of leftover baklazhan when I visit....( no problem there )

This is the first time I've tried making it on my own and I hope I do the recipe justice. It is simple, humble food (my favourite kind) and delicious. Eggplant is layered with onion, tomato, peppers & lots of garlic. Once cooled, I scoop giant piles of it into my mouth with crackers or toasted bread followed by delicious bites of the briny-est olives. Heaven!! If you like vodka as many Ukranian folk do, here's a good time to pour yourself a shot or two....or a martini if you wanna be fancy. YUM. This makes a big batch, enough for a crowd. You can definitely halve the recipe if you don't want a ton of leftovers, but I like to make the full batch and just eat it all week.