10-Minute Moutabel

Eggplant is not one of my favorite vegetables, so I was reluctant to try moutabel years ago when I first heard of it. However, one bite and it instantly became one of my all time favorite dips. In the initial stages of my love affair with moutabel, I tried to make it by buying and roasting the eggplants myself. Turns out I am not the eggplant whisperer and I was delighted when I one day discovered jarred eggplant pulp in the supermarket. I bought every jar on the shelf and they took up a significant corner of my pantry cupboard. Jarred eggplant pulp makes it so easy to prepare this nutritious and delicious dip in under 10 minutes. Even if you don't like eggplants, you've got to give this recipe a try. If you didn't know it was in there, you would never guess that it's the main ingredient. Enjoy!
Yield: 9 servings of about ⅓ cup (80g) each, totaling roughly 3 cups (715g)
Macros (per serving): 125 calories | 3.5g protein | 11g fat | 3.5g net carbs
Prep: 10 minutes
Storage: refrigerated for up to 4 days.
Ingredients:
  • 1½ cups (375g) roasted eggplant puré​e/pulp ✎
  • ¾ cup (180g) low-carb high-protein yogurt ✎
  • ⅓ cup (80g) tahini
  • 3 Tbsp (45ml) light olive oil or neutral-flavored oil of choice
  • 1½ Tbsp (23ml) lemon juice (about ½ medium lemon)
  • 1 Tbsp (5g) nutritional yeast flakes (optional)​
  • ¼ teaspoon ​salt (or to taste)​
Directions:
  1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl or a serving bowl that will hold at least 3 cups (720ml).
  2. If time allows, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
  3. Top as desired and serve with keto-friendly bread, chips, or veggie sticks. Or, use in wraps or sandwiches. In the picture, I am using my Frying Pan Flatbread for dipping.
Optional toppings: sesame seeds, cumin (seeds or ground), smoked paprika or sumac, crushed red pepper flakes, chopped or dried parsely, and chopped onion, chilis, or bell peppers. 
✎ Notes:​
  • Roasted eggplant puree/pulp comes in jars or tins. If you can't find it online or in your local supermarket, try a Greek or Middle Eastern grocer.
  • I'm using an unsweetened soy yogurt with no net carbs and a fair bit of protein. It is also pretty low in calories. If you are using a higher calorie yogurt, like coconut, and want to keep the calories in check, you could omit some of the oil. When looking for lower-carb yogurts, make sure they are unsweetened and try to find one where starch isn't a primary ingredient. The carbs on some vegan yogurts can be quite high.
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from yogurt (Alpro No Sugar) and nutritional yeast flakes (a mixture of Bob's Redmill and Foods Alive unfortified). For the eggplant, I am using "eggplant, cooked" instead of the label data. The macros are almost the same and this allows me to get all the micronutrient data in my tracking app without creating a custom entry.
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.