Combine great food with raising money and awareness for a good cause with Feast for Freedom.

Feast for Freedom is a shared food experience in aid of people seeking asylum. Sign up and host a Feast in your home or workplace using recipes gifted from the program. Details below.

Our recipe is Aheda’s Smoky Baba Ganoush

Aheda was a chef in Palestine and has been seeking asylum in Australia since 2018. Aheda is a Palestinian cuisine traditionalist and has dreams of one day opening a food truck to share her love of traditional Palestinian food and culture. You can also currently find Aheda delivering immersive cooking experiences and sharing her cultural traditions through Melbourne-based social enterprise ‘Free to Feed’.

See more on Aheda and register to receive her gifted recipes here

Smoky Baba Ganoush

Ingredients:

• 1 very large eggplant
• 2 garlic cloves, minced using mortar and pestle
• 1 tbsp tahini
• Juice of 1 – 2 lemons (to your taste)
• 1 tsp pink Himalayan salt
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Pinch of sumac
• Parsley to garnish
• Optional: pita bread or lavash flatbread

Method:

1. If using a gas cooktop, place strips of foil around the base of the gas hob to catch the juice of the eggplant. Using a moderate to high flame, place the eggplant directly onto the gas burner and roast for 20-25 minutes or until well charred and the flesh is soft. Use metal tongs to rotate the eggplant over the flame occasionally to ensure an even char. Once the skin is flaky and charred and the eggplant is soft and juicy, remove it from heat and allow to cool slightly on a tray. If the eggplant is still not cooked inside, place on a lined baking tray and finish under a hot grill. Alternatively, to cook the eggplant in an oven, prick holes in eggplant with a fork and place on a lined baking tray and cook under a hot grill for approx one hour, turning occasionally.
4. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, make an incision into the eggplant and scoop out the soft flesh (tip: the flesh should be white but cooked). Discard the eggplant skin. Place the eggplant on a large chopping board and roughly chop. The eggplant should be very soft and juicy. Add the crushed garlic, lemon juice, tahini and pink Himalayan salt and continue chopping and folding the mixture until well combined and desired texture is achieved. Alternatively you can blitz the mixture lightly in a food processor.
6. Once well combined, place the mixture on a plate or in a flat bowl and drizzle with olive oil, pinch of sumac and parsley to garnish. Serve with fresh or pickled vegetables and flatbread.

Listen to Aheda’s story HERE

How to become involved with Feast for Freedom:

Register at www.feastforfreedom.org.au – become a Host and choose anytime during March 2021 to host your Feast.

The ASRC team will then email you a personal fundraising page where your guests can RSVP and you can receive donations towards your fundraising goal.

Choose your cuisine – Sri Lankan, Palestinian or maybe something from the archives from previous years

After registration a FREE ‘Feast Host Kit; will be sent to you including a collectible recipe book with gifted recipes, a Feast shopping totem a wooden spoon, a shopping list and conversation cards to use with your guests. Register before 14th February and receive a FREE Feast tea towel.

Host your Feast in your home or workplace, raise funds and celebrate what unites us – food and community!

This year’s Feast will feature recipes gifted by refugee cooks from Palestine and Sri Lanka lovingly gifted by ASRC member and ASRC Foodbank volunteer Aheda as well as Tamil refugee and chef, Niro.