going middle eastern

hiiiiii! i've missed you world of food experimentation. luckily i passed biochem (barely) and just started fall semester yesterday. i've made my thursdays a little more easy going and so i jumped right back into cooking.

i was craving tabbouleh and baba ghanoush after eating it in cleveland (ahhh mazing food there, btw). my first try and both turned out pretty well. the recipes come from david lebovitz (the link for the baba ghanoush). i made my own tahini paste (not as difficult as i thought it would be, and the smell of ground sesame seeds is really delicious...maybe b/c it's so close to a peanut butter smell...haha)

unfortunately, i didn't quite understand his meaning of "medium" eggplants, and i think i ended up w/ 2 large ones instead. which made the consistency of my baba a bit too much on the eggplant side and too little on the creamy tahini side. i might try to add in some more tahini later to make it creamier. oh, and i also had quite a fun time getting the pulp out of the eggplant. i ended up peeling the skin off the eggplant...a plus for anyone who is hands on about their food.

the tabbouleh turned out great. i bought two bunches of parsley but only ended up using 1 bunch after i realized the quantity confusion from the baba. instead of bulgur i used quinoa (how does anyone just make 3 Tblsp of quinoa???). i didn't put in the mint b/c the parents would freak, but it still tastes delicious. add in a side of homemade pita chips and veggies and i was a very happy girl.

happy cooking!