Spicy Eggplant Dip with Lime & Cilantro

The Mediterranean diet has long been deemed one of the healthiest ways to eat for longevity and to help protect against chronic conditions. But it's time to expand our view on what it means to follow the Mediterranean diet with a fresh and more personal perspective. In our spotlight, The New Mediterranean Diet, we share recipes and nutrition advice that represent a more inclusive interpretation of this celebrated eating pattern.

As a Hmong kid growing up in the Midwest, all I wanted when I came home from school was a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich like all my friends had. But, instead, bowls filled with sauces and dips covered our kitchen table. As a 9-year-old kid, I would look at these bowls in disgust, thinking, "C'mon Mom! Why can't I just be like the other kids?"

Fast-forward almost 30 years later, and I crave one of those dips—the roasted eggplant dip that Mom always made. Now whenever I eat it, swiping a ball of purple sticky rice into the wonderful eggplant dip before popping it into my mouth, it sends me back to a warm summer day right after we came back from the small farm garden that my family had about 30 minutes away from our house.

While similar to a baba ganoush, Mom's roasted eggplant dip has a few key elements that are different. And since it's my mom's recipe, I think that it's better than any other baba ganoush-style dish out there. Here's why: First, she used Japanese or Thai eggplant that she grew in her garden, which I find to be less bitter than larger globe eggplant. Plus she roasted the eggplant over a fire, which infused it with a smokiness that balanced the bright cilantro and acidic lime juice. The final key is the heat from the Thai chiles—that little amount of heat will help open up your taste buds, so you can truly enjoy all of the flavors permeating through the dish. Bird's eye chiles are different from other chiles because the heat hits you later, after all of the other flavors have had a chance to dance on your tongue.

This dish isn't complete without its sidekick, purple sticky rice (see Note). The beauty of Hmong food is that one dish will never stand alone. Hmong food is all about the balance of each dish that makes another dish come alive. The slightly sweet purple sticky rice works as a perfect canvas for the smoky-tart-spicy-rich roasted eggplant dip.

I believe that food is a universal language we can all use, a common thread that we have as humans to connect with each other. Mom knew nothing about Mediterranean cooking, but when she made this roasted eggplant dish for us, she was unknowingly flirting with baba ganoush. It was the snack that was always around when we needed a little something to hold us over until dinner. I remember going to a Mediterranean restaurant in college and ordering baba ganoush, having no idea what it was from the menu description. When I took a bite, all I could think about was Mom's dip. It brought me back to my childhood kitchen table.