|
No matter how you spell it, baba ghanoush (or baba ganouj or baba gannoujh) is a tasty dip or spread made from eggplant and a flavorful Middle Eastern sesame paste called tahini. Most recipes also include lemon, garlic, salt, olive oil, and other ingredients, which vary from recipe to recipe. In restaurants and in the home, baba ghanoush is frequently found in the company of hummus (a similar spread based on chickpeas) and pita (a traditional Middle Eastern flat bread, often sold as pocket bread). RecipeSource,
a humongous recipe archive, offered ten distinct recipes for baba ghanoush (with almost as many spellings) in the dips and spreads category. Nearly all recipes begin with eggplant, a deeply purple vegetable related to tomatoes and peppers. Oven roast, broil, or steam the eggplant, then, when it's cool enough to handle, scoop out the soft, seedy pulp and discard the skin. For a smoky eggplant flavor, carefully char the skin on a stovetop flame before cooking through (as you might for roast peppers). Mash this cooked eggplant "meat" with a fork, or, for a very smooth consistency, spoon the eggplant into a food processor or blender. Then add the tahini
(usually available in health food or gourmet markets or in ethnic grocery stores that carry Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods) and the rest of your ingredients. Season to taste and mix, blend, or puree the baba until you've achieved a texture that's easy to pick up on a piece of pita bread without double-dipping, or shmear with a knife on a cracker. Some of the optional condiments and spices we came across -- ingredients that changed from recipe to recipe -- include yogurt, sour cream and red wine vinegar, onion, scallion, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, pepper (red and black), parsley, oregano, and thyme. The dip may be chilled before serving, or made a day ahead of time and refrigerated. For optimal flavor, we
recommend bringing it out of the fridge to take the chill off before serving. Serve drizzled with olive oil, garnish with parsley, or add a dash of cayenne for color contrast. Yum!
|
