In most grocery stores, containers of Baba Ganoush could be easily confused with similar looking hummus — often displayed together in a dip aisle. Both have a similar off white color, are of Middle Eastern origin, and have dash of tahini (sesame paste) – but the similarities end there.
Baba Ganoush is cooked mashed eggplant dish that can be served as an appetizer, salad, side dish or more commonly, in this country, as a dip with pita bread or vegetables (celery, baby carrots, cucumber etc). I heard somewhere that in Arabic it means dad (baba) and spoiled (ganoush). Whereas, hummus is made from chickpeas.
A simple Baba Ganoush recipe calls for roasting eggplant on open flame (or baking), peeling off the purple skin, mashing up and add sesame paste tahini and other seasoning. Many similar eggplant dish are served around the world such as Indian Baingan Bharta, Bulgarian Kyopolou, Greek Melitzanosalata, Lebanese Mutabal, Turkish Patlican Salatasi, Israeli Salat Hatzilim, etc.
This is my interpretation of Baba Ganoush
Get regular American eggplant (brinjal). American eggplants are dark purple in color, elongated oval size and about one to one and half pound in weight. Make incision mark on opposite sides.
Bake eggplants for 40+ minutes in 400°F oven. If possible, flip in the middle. The baking time depends on the size of the eggplant. When eggplants are done, they collapse
Roasted eggplants
Let it cool. Peel off the skin.
Peeled roasted eggplant
Mash it with knife or lightly puree in food processor. I pulsed in couple of times in my blender.
Puréed eggplant
Since I didn’t have tahini, I decided to use sesame seed powder. So, I roasted and grounded sesame seeds, then added it to mashed eggplants.
Roasting sesame
Add salt, lime juice (about 1/2 for each eggplant), chopped mashed roasted garlic (few pods, optional) and cumin (a pinch, optional).
Garnish by drizzling some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkling paprika.
Baba Ganoush
