Sabor Eats

Sabor for the kitchen & tea for the soul.
Sabor Eats is an experimental food blog created by Erica and Wasc, two students who love food, culture, and travelling.

Crispy Eggplant Fritters with Mozzarella + Lemon Black Tahini Yogurt Dipping Sauce + Gravlax

What a long title!!! No, your eyes are not deceiving you…This post has THREE, count it—3— recipes! Are you shocked? Amazed? :)

The Lemon Black Tahini Yogurt Dipping Sauce works well for the the Crispy Eggplant Fritters with Mozzarella and the Gravlax! Or, you can eat the two plain. They are delicious either way.

Lets begin with some definitions so that you do not have to Google/Wiki these names. Of course, if you find these interesting, feel free to research further!

First off—what is tahini? I learned recently that tahini is a sauce made from ground sesame seeds. It is basically sesame paste. When I first saw a recipe for tahini sauce, white sesame seeds were used. I do not have any white sesame on hand in my pantry right now; however, I do have a huge package of black sesame! Well…Not anymore. :D It’s a bit weird, blending the seeds with olive oil and watching it become a black, scary looking paste. Actually, the black sesame tahini tastes a lot better than it looks, so do not be afraid! :) Black sesame is also much better for your health. It is used in Chinese medicine often for digestion because of its effects on the liver and helpful in relieving dry and blurry eyes. I’m not so sure how much of this is true—but if you are having dry and blurry eyes, I’d recommend going to see an Optometrist ;)

What is gravlax? I wasn’t sure what it was either the first time I heard of it. Apparently it’s Norwegian-style cured salmon. The curing process takes anywhere from 3-5 days using salt, sugar, dill, and ground black peppers. Afterwards you can either scrape off the curing mixture or you can rinse it off. I chose to rinse mine off so that the gravlax wouldn’t be super salty.

Lemon Black Sesame Tahini Yogurt Dipping Sauce! So delicious and healthy for you ;)

Gravlax garnished with homemade matcha salt (green tea salt). I will have to make a post about making your own flavored salts sometime soon!

However, I think that the gravlax would be better off garnished with crushed pistachios. The gravlax, having been cured in salt for so many days already is salty enough, we do not need to add more salt on top of it! So, if you have pistachios on hand (which I unfortunately did not :P), sprinkle it and freshly ground black pepper over the gravlax. It’s delicious….

Hope you enjoy!!!

-Erica

Crispy Eggplant Fritters with Mozzarella (adapted from Bon Appétite)

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggplants, sliced crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices
  • 1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp salt (keep separate)
  • Olive oil (to brush and fry) and a bit of vegetable oil (to mix with the olive oil during frying)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs (remove 1/4 cup for reserve)
  • 1/3 cup freshly chopped parsley
  • 1 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 4 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Recipe:

  1. Place eggplant slices in one layer on top of 2 layers of paper towels.
  2. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt.
  3. Overlay 1 paper towel on the exposed side of the eggplants. Let dry for 30 minutes
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  5. Brush baking pan with olive oil.
  6. Line up eggplant slices (in 1 layer) on the baking pan. Brush very lightly with olive oil.
  7. Bake for 1 hour.
  8. Whisk 1 egg, grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, black pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
  9. When eggplant is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then chop up the eggplant and place in the same mixing bowl as Step 8. Stir the mixture.
  10. Whisk remaining egg and flour into another bowl.
  11. Spread 1 cup of breadcrumbs onto a plate.
  12. Press and shape the eggplant mixture into a ball (one at a time!!!) about 1 1/4 inch in diameter.
  13. Press in 1 cube of mozzarella. Make sure the eggplant mixture covers the mozzarella completely. Reshape into balls if need be.
  14. Roll eggplant ball in egg/flour mixture, making sure to coat completely.
  15. Roll ball around in breadcrumb plate until fully coated.
  16. Heat up olive oil that fills up the pot 1/4 inch on medium heat. NOTE: Here, I mixed in a bit of vegetable oil to reach an oil depth of 1/4 inch in the pot as well because using 100% olive oil gets expensive…
  17. Working in batches, fry the balls for around 4 minutes—flipping the entire time so the ball doesn’t burn on one side!
  18. When the ball is done, use a slotted spoon to remove and place the balls on top of some paper towels to pull off excess oil.
  19. Serve! :)

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Lemon Black Tahini Yogurt Dipping Sauce (adapted from Playin with my food)

Ingredients:

For the black tahini

  • 2.5 cups of black sesame seeds
  • 3/4 cup of olive oil

For the Dipping Sauce

  • 1/8 cup black tahini (from above)
  • 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt (like Fage)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Optional: thyme leaves for garnish

Recipe:

For the black tahini

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Spread out sesame seeds on baking pan lined with foil evenly.
  3. Toast for 5-10 minutes, tossing once or twice with a spatula. NOTE: make sure not to over-toast them as they will start to smell burnt!
  4. Remove from oven, cool for 20 minutes
  5. Puree toasted sesame seeds and olive oil in blender. The paste will not look like a paste when you pour it out!!! Do not worry. As it cools down in the refrigerator, the black tahini “liquid” will harden and become more paste-like.
  6. Refrigerate for 2+ hours.

For the Dipping Sauce

  1. Puree black tahini, Greek yogurt, lemon, and garlic in a blender.
  2. Garnish with some thyme leaves if you wish!

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Gravlax (adapted from Recipe Girl)

Makes… A LOT. If you’re eating for one, I’d maybe half the recipe because that’ll still give you a lot of gravlax (1+ weeks worth).

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs salmon fillet with skin on
  • 3 tbsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1.5 bunch fresh dill, chopped

Recipe:

  1. Prepare the salmon by lightly rinsing, patting completely dry.
  2. Trim and remove bones if necessary.
  3. In a small bowl, mix salt, sugar, pepper.
  4. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mixture evenly into a huge glass pan (9x12 inches if you have, or 2 different sized pans if you’re like me and don’t have one that large). 
  5. Sprinkle in 1/2 of the chopped dill.
  6. Add salmon skin side down. NOTE: You want to be sure the salmon pieces do not overlap when you place them into the glass pans.
  7. Sprinkle remaining salt mixture over the salmon and top evenly with the dill.
  8. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate 3-5 days (Large range because you have to look yourself to see if the salmon looks like it’s cured—this was hard for me to do because I’d never seen/tasted gravlax before so I wasn’t sure when to take it out so that I could safely consume it, haha. Basically you do not want to salmon to look that dark-ish red color that it was when you bought/caught it).
  9. Flip the salmon over in the pans each day for every day that it is curing.
  10. On the day that you decide the curing process is over, remove salmon and rinse off the salt and dill mixture with cold water. 
  11. Pat completely dry and place on cutting board.
  12. Slice very thinly.
  13. Refrigerate in an airtight container if you are not going to eat it immediately. NOTE: gravlax will keep for anywhere between 1.5-2 or maybe more weeks. You have to use your judgement and sense of smell. :P
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