If you never heard the term baba ganoush, you might wonder what it actually is. Put simply: Baba ganoush is a middle eastern and mediterranean dip similar to hummus. Instead of chickpeas, you use roasted eggplants as a base for the dip.
Unlike hummus, which often is mild and creamy, baba ganoush can play its sour punch of lemon, a bite of garlic and its rumbling low tones from cumin pretty transparently. And as its based on eggplants, it is very digestive.
Bake the eggplants to make baba ganoush
The base of the whole dish are roasted eggplants. When giving them enough time in the oven, they develop a subtle smoke aroma. For this to happen, the water in the aubergine needs a way out.
Take a fork and poke holes all around the eggplant's skin. A thumb wide gap between the pokes will do. Put them in the oven at around 410° F / 210° C and let them bake until they are wrinkly and almost black. This takes usually around half an hour.
When done baking, take them aside to cool down. you can cut them in half and fold them open to allow more moisture to escape from the inside.
preparing baba ganoush
Scrape the inside of the eggplant out of its skin using a spoon. Blend it together with tahini, cumin, garlic, lemon juice and a bit of salt. If you want it a bit more smokey, try adding smoked paprika powder.
To get a chunky blend, try blending at low to medium speed for around 5 seconds. To make it soft, just blend long enough. I recommend chilling your baba ganoush prior to serving. Especially during the hot summer days, a cold kick really accompanies well the freshness of the lemon.
For decoration you can use fresh parsley, lemon slices, olives or pomegranate. Top it up with some more spices and olive oil.
What to serve with this dip?
You surely can integrate baba ganoush into any buffet. But if you want to serve it as a main, you should bring finger food for dipping. Cut crisp vegetable sticks from things like carrots,cucumber, bell peppers. Toast bread slices, bring crackers, flatbreads or tortillas.
You can cut fresh parsley for a tasteful decoration. Add pomegranate, fig or olives as a topping.
Baba Ganoush
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 3 eggplants large
- 1 garlic
- 2 tsp cumin
- 100 g tahini
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 lemons
- salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 410° F / 210° C. Use a fork to poke holes into the eggplants all around, so that moisture can escape during the baking. Bake the eggplants around 30min or until really dark and wrinkled. Let the eggplants cool down.
- Cut the eggplant in half and remove its contents with the help of a table spoon. Add the eggplant together with the rest of the ingredients in the blender. For a chunky spread mix no more than 5 seconds on low to medium speed. Baba ganoush blent smooth makes a great experience as well.
- I recommend to chill the Baba Ganoush a bit before serving.Decorate with spices, herbs or more. Enjoy!
Nutrients per serving
