We have made it abundantly clear over at NewKosher how much we love Persian food, from Bulgar Soup to Pomegranate Walnut Chicken. This dish, a creamy eggplant and tomato dip, will absolutely knock your socks off. While we pretty much stuck with a traditional recipe, we did add one special ingredient: ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice mix. You can use red onion as we suggest, but white onion is more traditional.

While it is presented here as a dip, the almost beefy taste of the roasted eggplant, ground with garlic and tomato, could make an amazing parve marinara sauce for pizza or pasta. Just omit the ras al hanout.

Mirza Ghassemi
(serves 4 to 8 people)

1 large eggplant
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped