Chef Monsta: I cook, therefore I blog

I love hummus. But it isn’t really main course material…until now. I have had components of this dish together many times, but never all piled on one another. Eggplant and hummus are a classic combination. Hummus with grilled chicken or ground beef is quite the delicacy. But here is the ultimate middle eastern combination: Eggplant, hummus, ground beef, and sauteed onions and mushrooms (lots of cumin too, of course).

I like to make my own hummus, b/c it tastes 10x fresher and it’s actually cheaper than buying store bought. But you can use store bought if you are pressed for time.

The ingredients for hummus: Chickpeas, cumin, tahini, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil.

In a blender: Blend chickpeas, oil, salt, pepper, and cumin.

Add tahini

For the Israeli salad: one roma tomato, one Israeli cucumber, salt, pepper, the juice of 1 lemon, and za’atar.

And now for the base of our dish, the eggplant. Slice a large eggplant, season with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley. You can grill or bake the eggplants. I baked the slices at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I seasoned the ground beef with salt, pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, and dried oregano. Saute.

Slice half an onion and 1/2 lb of button mushrooms.

Remove the cooked meat from the pan, and saute the oil and mushrooms in the oil from the meat.

Now that all the components are ready, you can build your dish. Eggplants first, then a portion of the hummus. At this point, I like to microwave the hummus so that the entire dish is warm (if you have never had warm hummus, it is a completely different experience)…

Spoon the meat over the hummus, then add onions and mushrooms, and parsley to finish.