Baba Ganoush with Tahini and Lemon

Name: Baba Ganoush Recipe: Roasted Eggplant Dip with Tahini
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: Eggplants 1 kg; Lemon 1; Parsley and cilantro ½ bunch; Garlic 1–3 cloves; Olive oil 2 tbsp; Coarse sea salt, hot pepper to taste; Lavash for serving; Sesame seeds 50 g; Cold boiled water 1–2 tsp

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Baba ganoush (also spelled baba ghanoush) is a special kind of eggplant dip with a distinctive cooking method, popular across the Middle East and North Africa. The idea is simple: eggplants are roasted over fire or in an oven, then chopped and mixed with spices and tahini. It is served drizzled with olive oil, with flatbread on the side.

What sets baba ganoush apart from the usual eggplant caviar is that the roasted eggplants take on an incomparable grilled flavor, with the light smoky aftertaste that only vegetables cooked over fire or in an oven have. It is often served with falafel or used as an eggplant sauce for various dishes. Most of the time, though, it is simply an appetizer scooped up with lavash or other unleavened flatbread instead of a spoon.

The base of baba ganoush is eggplant with tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds. Tahini goes into a great many Middle Eastern dishes, mostly appetizers. Hummus, the chickpea dip, is always generously seasoned with tahini. And it is tahini that turns this eggplant sauce into something special. By the way, many people are put off by tahini in a recipe, even though sesame seeds are sold in every store and making 1-2 tbsp of the paste takes no effort at all.

This eggplant dip comes in many versions that can differ a lot depending on the region and the country’s food culture. In the Middle East, for example, finely chopped onion and tomatoes may be added to baba ganoush, and the recipe often includes hot pepper and black sesame, sometimes pomegranate juice, cumin and mint. There are even versions with mayonnaise.

In its simplest and, to my mind, best form, baba ganoush is a puree of roasted eggplant with garlic, lemon juice, tahini, parsley and olive oil. Adding some cilantro is also worth it, as it makes the eggplant dip more fragrant. The dip is served as meze, either on its own or as part of a spread of appetizers and salads. In a way it resembles Serbian ajvar, although that one is made mostly from red peppers, often with some eggplant added.

Baba ganoush, a Middle Eastern appetizer of roasted eggplant with tahini and lemon. A simple step-by-step recipe with photos for a delicious eggplant dip.

Ingredients

4–6 servings

Eggplants 1 kg
Lemon 1
Parsley and cilantro ½ bunch
Garlic 1–3 cloves
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Coarse sea salt, hot pepper to taste
Lavash for serving

Sesame seeds 50 g
Cold boiled water 1–2 tsp

Step-by-step recipe

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Roasting the eggplants

In Turkey, a very popular appetizer is Patlıcan Salatası, which is essentially baba ganoush, made from the same ingredients in the same way.

Choose young eggplants that are not overripe, with a glossy dark skin and no hard, fully formed seeds: that is what makes a tasty eggplant dip.
Roast the eggplants. The ideal way to roast eggplants for this dip is over an open flame or hot wood embers. A pepper roaster, the Bulgarian chushkopek, also gives a good result. If you have neither, the eggplants can be roasted in the oven on a sheet of foil.
Roast the eggplants until the skin is clearly charred and slightly wrinkled. Pierce one with a knife: there should be no resistance.

Put the roasted eggplants in a pot with a lid, or simply in a plastic bag, and leave them until completely cool.
Peel the charred skin off the cooled eggplants and remove any spoiled or hard bits, which are quite common.
Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise and scrape out the hard seeds if needed. Squeeze the eggplants lightly to drain off the excess liquid, which you don’t want in the dip.

Making the tahini

Buying herbs and lemons is no problem, but tahini leaves many people stumped. Yet there is nothing difficult or exotic about it.

Get the additions ready: fresh lemons, parsley and cilantro (optional), garlic and, of course, the best extra virgin olive oil you can find.
Lightly toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan.
Every supermarket sells these small creamy-white seeds, usually packed in 50–100 g bags.
Grind the sesame into a paste in a coffee grinder or mortar. Add 1–2 tsp of cold boiled water and stir, and the tahini is ready.

Making the dip

Finely chop the cooled, prepared eggplants with a knife. If the flesh is well roasted and not too stringy, you can use a fork or a potato masher instead. Put the flesh in a large bowl and mash it. Pour lemon juice over the flesh and mix. You can use plenty of lemon juice, it tastes great, but at least the juice of half a lemon, which is about 2 tbsp.

Peel the garlic, finely chop it rather than grating it, and add it to the eggplant flesh.
How much garlic to use is always a mystery. Many people like just a hint of garlic in the dip, while others prefer it quite sharp, and baba ganoush is often eaten with a fairly strong garlic flavor. Usually 2–3 cloves per 1 kg of eggplant is enough, but it’s all up to your taste.
Season with coarse sea salt and add 1–2 pinches of coarsely ground hot pepper.
Add the prepared tahini paste and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Strip all the leaves from the parsley sprigs, and the cilantro if you decided to use it, finely chop them with a knife and add them to the dip.
Mix the dip very thoroughly so that all the ingredients are well combined and evenly distributed. Add more salt, spices and lemon juice to taste. You can add more tahini if you like. Once you are happy with the flavor, transfer the dip to small serving bowls.

Serving

Serve the eggplant dip at room temperature, when its flavor and aroma come through fully.

Before serving, drizzle the dip with olive oil so that droplets or a thin film form on top. Garnish with a sprig of herbs.
Baba ganoush is traditionally eaten with a piece of unleavened bread or lavash, dipping it into the appetizer or scooping it up like a spoon. If the eggplant dip is served as a sauce for falafel, you can simply dip them in and eat right away.
The dip keeps in the fridge for several days and can be made ahead.

Calories and macros

205 kcal

Serving ≈ 290 g

Protein5 g11% of kcal
Fat14 g66% of kcal
Carbs10 g23% of kcal

100 g70 kcalProtein 1.8 gFat 4.7 gCarbs 3.6 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

No grill? Use the stove

You can roast the eggplants right over a gas burner flame: set them on a rack or hold them with tongs and keep turning until the skin is charred all over. The grilled flavor comes out almost as good as over embers.

Tahini: homemade or store-bought

Toast the sesame only lightly, to a creamy color: overtoasted seeds turn bitter. Store-bought sesame paste works too; if it is very thick, loosen it with a spoonful of water or lemon juice.

Variations

In the Middle East, baba ganoush may include:

finely chopped onion and tomatoes;
hot pepper and black sesame;
pomegranate juice, cumin or mint.

There are even versions with mayonnaise. But to my mind, the simplest one is the best.

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Questions and answers

What is baba ganoush?

A Middle Eastern appetizer of eggplants roasted over fire or in an oven, mixed with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and herbs. It is eaten with lavash or unleavened bread, served with falafel or used as a sauce.

How is baba ganoush different from eggplant caviar?

The eggplants for baba ganoush are roasted until the skin chars, which gives the dip a grilled flavor. And its flavor is built on tahini, a sesame paste that regular eggplant caviar doesn’t have.

What is Israeli-style baba ganoush?

It’s eggplant with tehina: that is what tahini is called in Israel. Essentially it is the same baba ganoush, often with extra tehina drizzled on top.

What is the difference between mutabal and baba ganoush?

The names are often mixed up. Mutabal usually means a creamier roasted eggplant dip with plenty of tahini, sometimes with yogurt, while baba ganoush is simpler, with herbs and lemon.

How to make baba ganoush without tahini?

You can, but it will simply be a roasted eggplant dip: tahini is the base of baba ganoush. Use more olive oil and lemon juice instead.

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