Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Wash and dry the eggplants. Place the eggplants on the oiled baking sheet, and place in the oven. Roast the eggplant for 30 minutes so that they become very soft.
Meanwhile, place the garlic, basil and serrano pepper into the bowl of a food processor (use just one half of the pepper if you want a less spicy dip.) Blend the ingredients together, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
When the eggplant is done, remove it from the oven to a cutting board. Allow the eggplant to cool long enough so they are easy to handle (about 10 minutes.)
Cut the eggplants in half and scoop out the insides (for us this was a combination of scooping out the pulp and stripping the skin away from the pulp.) Add the eggplant pulp to the ingredients in the food processor. Blend to thoroughly combine the ingredients into a smooth and thick consistency.
Spoon the mixture from the food processor into a serving dish. Place the dish in the fridge to cool for 10 minutes.
Add the tahini, lemon juice and salt to the eggplant and use a fork to mix them in. Make a small well in the center of the dip and pour the olive oil into this well. Garnish the dip with the chopped mint. Serve the Moutabel with fresh pitas cut into quarters for dipping.
To make your own tahini:
If you cannot find prepared tahini, or wish to make your own here is how we made tahini for this recipe:Place ½ cup of toasted sesame seeds (we used a 1.62-ounce jar of McCormick Toasted Sesame Seed) into the bowl of a food processor. Process the seeds until they become a grainy paste. With the food processor running, slowly add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil through the feed tube. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Continue blending and add up to 2 more tablespoons of vegetable oil until the tahini is smooth and liquidy.This yielded ½ cup of tahini, which is a little more than needed for this recipe. The leftover tahini can be used in sauces, dressings or as a drizzle to some dishes.
Notes
Adapted from the recipe for Moutabel Spicy Eggplant Dip from GroupRecipes.com