Baba Ganoush, A Delightful Middle East Appetizers
| 4:58 AM |
Baba Ganoush is one of my favorite appetizers. It’s a big go to for me if I’m preparing appetizers for company. It’s easy to make, delicious, keeps well, and has healthy ingredients (though I recommend avoiding eating too much in one sitting, it’s pretty fat heavy from the olive oil and tahini).
I hope you find you love it as much as I do.
To make Baba Ganoush, we start by cooking the eggplant. Some people will throw the eggplant on the grill to get a nice charred, smokey flavor, but I generally cook it in my oven. You want the inside of the eggplant to get very soft and well cooked but not burnt (but like I said, some charring on the edges is perfectly okay).
To do this, we’ll cut the eggplants in half and broil them until the skins are well charred and the eggplant starts to collapse.
If they are cooked well, a lot of the inside will just fall out. The rest can easily be separated from the skins with a spoon and the skins can be discarded.
All of the eggplant is collected into a food processor with lemon, tahini, garlic, salt, and olive oil and blended until smooth. I will usually collect the juices that result from the roasted eggplant and add this as well.
Unless you let it cool for a long time before blending (not necessary), the eggplant will still be hot at this point. Despite this, you can give it a taste and see how you like the levels of lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and salt.
With a dish like this, it is so easy to adjust these things on the fly, so I recommend playing with different amounts of each until you find the combination that you like best. Even after you’ve taken it out of the food processor, it’s relatively easy to add to it in a bowl.
Often with Baba Ganoush, the olive oil is left out and just drizzled on top at the end. I personally prefer having some of it mixed in, so I put half of the olive oil in for the food processing stage and drizzle the remaining on top when serving.
If you make a large serving, it may be best to “drizzle as you go”. Maybe use one tablespoon of olive oil to start and as the dish and the olive oil get eaten, drizzle another tablespoon.
Regardless of how you adjust your ingredients, at this point you’ll transfer your mixture to a bowl and put the finishing touches on it. Like I said, I will usually drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, and then sprinkle some paprika on top. Other common additions include cumin, parsley, mint, and fresh pomegranate seeds.
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients:
2 large eggplants
2 lemons
3/4 cup tahini
4 cloves garlic
1.5 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
1. Begin by removing the tops of the eggplant and cutting them in half lengthwise.
2. Place them on a foil lined baking sheet with the flat side down. Set on the top rack and turn the oven on broil.
3. Let them sit for 10-15 minutes and check. Keep checking them in 5 minute increments until the outer skin is well charred and the eggplant is soft and easily collapses to the touch.
4. Remove from the oven and let the eggplant cool enough to handle.
5. Once cooled, remove the soft flesh from inside and discard the leftover skins. If there is leftover juice from the eggplant on the baking sheet, collect this.
6. Add the eggplant (and juices, if any), juice of 2 lemons, tahini, garlic, salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a food processor or a blender. You can mash the garlic beforehand to reduce how much processing you need to do, but this is not required.
7. Run the food processor until everything is well mixed.
8. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top.
9. Sprinkle with paprika (or other preferred toppings) and serve with pita bread.
Serve and enjoy !
I hope you find you love it as much as I do.
 |
| Baba Ganoush |
To make Baba Ganoush, we start by cooking the eggplant. Some people will throw the eggplant on the grill to get a nice charred, smokey flavor, but I generally cook it in my oven. You want the inside of the eggplant to get very soft and well cooked but not burnt (but like I said, some charring on the edges is perfectly okay).
To do this, we’ll cut the eggplants in half and broil them until the skins are well charred and the eggplant starts to collapse.
If they are cooked well, a lot of the inside will just fall out. The rest can easily be separated from the skins with a spoon and the skins can be discarded.
All of the eggplant is collected into a food processor with lemon, tahini, garlic, salt, and olive oil and blended until smooth. I will usually collect the juices that result from the roasted eggplant and add this as well.
Unless you let it cool for a long time before blending (not necessary), the eggplant will still be hot at this point. Despite this, you can give it a taste and see how you like the levels of lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and salt.
With a dish like this, it is so easy to adjust these things on the fly, so I recommend playing with different amounts of each until you find the combination that you like best. Even after you’ve taken it out of the food processor, it’s relatively easy to add to it in a bowl.
Often with Baba Ganoush, the olive oil is left out and just drizzled on top at the end. I personally prefer having some of it mixed in, so I put half of the olive oil in for the food processing stage and drizzle the remaining on top when serving.
If you make a large serving, it may be best to “drizzle as you go”. Maybe use one tablespoon of olive oil to start and as the dish and the olive oil get eaten, drizzle another tablespoon.
Regardless of how you adjust your ingredients, at this point you’ll transfer your mixture to a bowl and put the finishing touches on it. Like I said, I will usually drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, and then sprinkle some paprika on top. Other common additions include cumin, parsley, mint, and fresh pomegranate seeds.
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients:
2 large eggplants
2 lemons
3/4 cup tahini
4 cloves garlic
1.5 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
1. Begin by removing the tops of the eggplant and cutting them in half lengthwise.
2. Place them on a foil lined baking sheet with the flat side down. Set on the top rack and turn the oven on broil.
3. Let them sit for 10-15 minutes and check. Keep checking them in 5 minute increments until the outer skin is well charred and the eggplant is soft and easily collapses to the touch.
4. Remove from the oven and let the eggplant cool enough to handle.
5. Once cooled, remove the soft flesh from inside and discard the leftover skins. If there is leftover juice from the eggplant on the baking sheet, collect this.
6. Add the eggplant (and juices, if any), juice of 2 lemons, tahini, garlic, salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a food processor or a blender. You can mash the garlic beforehand to reduce how much processing you need to do, but this is not required.
7. Run the food processor until everything is well mixed.
8. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top.
9. Sprinkle with paprika (or other preferred toppings) and serve with pita bread.
Serve and enjoy !
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