Baba Ganoush Recipe: Roasted Eggplant Dip with Tahini
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.
I once read that the word baba means “father” in Arabic, so perhaps the eggplant is the father of all vegetables, and the two words together may mean something like “father of refinement” or “pampered father”. In the East, people love giving dishes lavish, ornate names; just think of imam bayildi.
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.
Ingredients
4-6 servings
- Eggplants 1 kg
- Lemon 1
- Sesame seeds 50 g
- Parsley and cilantro 0.5 bunch
- Garlic 1-3 cloves
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Salt, hot pepper to taste
- Lavash for serving
Step-by-step recipe
- In Turkey, a very popular appetizer is Patlıcan Salatası, which is essentially baba ganoush, made from the same ingredients in the same way. Either way, for a tasty eggplant dip the eggplants should be young and not overripe, with a glossy dark skin and no hard, fully formed seeds.
- Preparing 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.
- How to make tahini
- The key ingredients of a good dip are fresh lemons, parsley and cilantro (optional), garlic and tahini. And, of course, the best extra virgin olive oil you can find. Buying herbs and lemons is no problem, but tahini leaves many people stumped. Yet there is nothing difficult or exotic about it.
- Every supermarket sells sesame seeds, the small creamy-white seeds usually packed in 50-100 g bags. Lightly toast the sesame in a dry frying pan and grind it 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 appetizer
- The cooled, prepared eggplants can be finely chopped 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. 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. Finely chop the garlic rather than grating it, and add it to the eggplant flesh. 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, and finely chop them with a knife. Add the herbs.
- 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.
- How to serve the appetizer
- Serve the eggplant dip at room temperature, when its flavor and aroma come through fully. Before serving, drizzle it 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.
| Yield: | 4-6 servings |
| Calories: | 130 |
| Prep: | 45 mins |
| Cooking: | 15 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h |
| Category: | Snacks and Sauces |
| Cuisine: | Middle Eastern |
| Rating: |
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4.5
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