Baba Ganoush
Recipe for Baba Ganoush – a Middle Eastern Eggplant based dip, which is usually a part of a mezze platter
Servings Prep Time
4servings 15minutes
Cook Time
0minutes
Servings Prep Time
4servings 15minutes
Cook Time
0minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. To prepare Baba Ganoush, start by roasting the eggplant. Roasting it on a direct flame or the grill gives the best smokey taste.Place the brinjal on a medium flame, and rotate regularly so that the skin gets evenly blistered and charred. It will take about 10-12 min for the entire brinjal to get roasted and soft from within. However you can roast it on a lightly greased baking sheet by slitting it in half lengthwise at 350 F. I prefer to broil rather than bake, for that browning effect.
  2. Peel off the blistered skin, chop roughly and keep aside.
  3. Assembling the ingredients: In a blender, roughly grind the roasted sesame seeds. Then add the chopped roasted brinjal and all other ingredients except parsely/ coriander and olive oil. Blend to a smooth paste.
  4. Serve: Remove the paste onto a shallow dish. Mix in the olive oil. Garnish with minced parsely / coriander and a swirl of some more olive oil.
Recipe Notes

Serving suggestion:Serve the chilled Baba Ganouj with warm pita bread brushed with olive oil. If pita bread is not readily available, you can either serve it with toasted slices of a whole wheat bread / foccasia or whole wheat crackers.

Last evening, I served it to my guests with wedges of garlic bread toasted till warm. They loved it!.

The original recipe calls for Tahini, which a sesame seed paste in olive oil. Since Tahini is not easily available in grocery stores in India, I ground roasted sesame seeds along with other ingredients. I did not find much of a taste deviation from the original.

(Updated in Sep 2017: Tahini is available easily online as well as in several supermarkets – Tahini on Amazon.in )