Eggplant and Tahini Taglittela pasta

Away from the regular pasta sauces, this recipe is based on tahini a creamy sauce mixture that goes great with everything, especially pasta. Tahini creates a creamy sauce when thinned with water and for it to have strong flavours I tend to add some spices to it. 

A healthy alternative to the other creamy pasta sauces. 

Ingredients:

1. 1 Tablespoon olive oil
2. 1 tablespoon paprika
3. 1 tablespoon chilli powder
4. 2 cloves garlic
5. 1 large eggplant- peeled and chopped into big chunks and soaked in salt water for 1 hour
6. 1 large packet of tagliatelle pasta
7. 1 cup tahini
8. 1 lemon – squeezed
9. 1/2 a cup of sun-dried tomatoes – diced

Method:

• In a baking tray bake the soaked eggplant pieces for 40 minutes, at 350*c. Note: I soak the eggplant in water and salt so that when I bake it, it stays soft and doesn’t crisp up.
• Boil the tagliatelle pasta following the instruction on the packet, I tend to boil it for 5 minutes but different brands of tagliatelle pasta require different amounts of boiling.
• In a bowl start preparing the creamy sauce, add the tahini, the spices, sun-dried tomatoes and squeezed lemon. Mix well then start adding hot water gradually to liquify it. The more water you add the more liquidy the consistency is so I tend to add 1/2 cup of hot water to 1 cup of tahini as I like the consistency to be thicker.
• Take the eggplant out of the oven ( it should be goldish in the center and brown toward the edges). Let it cool for 20 minutes, then start chopping it into small pieces.
• Add the chopped eggplants to the tahini mixture and then add the cooked pasta and toss them until the sauce has been mixed thoroughly. You can add chopped onions for an extra pump of flavour.