Fabulous & Smokey Eggplant Mediterranean Dip & Spread you’ll keep making! Healthy and Delicious.
A silky, creamy, delectable eggplant dip – light on calories…big on flavor!!
A recipe all good cooks should master – the perfect healthy nosh or appetizer.
Baba Ganoush is a typical Lebanese/Middle Eastern meze (‘starter’) often eaten as a dip with pita bread, and is sometimes added to other dishes.
The traditional preparation method is for the eggplant to baked or broiled over a flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smokey taste.
In Israel, it is also known as salat hatzilim (Israeli eggplant salad), although a variation with that name (made with mayonnaise instead of tahini.)
I love my method! Cut a large eggplant in half lengthwise and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The eggplant “meat” will not be watery – but full of charred-roasty flavor. Simply cool just a bit, scoop out the eggplant, discarding the skin, give it a good chop.
The trick: add the rest of the ingredients while the eggplant is hot to grab all the flavors.
Add garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, cumin (a must!) and tahini. Drizzle just a bit of extra virgin olive oil into the mix and plenty of chopped parsley. I do not add too much tahini – just enough to make a creamy baba an lend that awesome sesame flavor.
Serve as you would hummus – with plenty of crispy and colorful cut veggies and breads of your choice… most commonly pita bread.
The roasted peppers are a wonderful complement to the Baba Ganoush ~ serve on the side or chop and add to the Baba Ganoush!
Baba Ganoush makes a wonderful spread, especially for Vegan Sandwiches! Layer with crunchy sprouts and pickled vegetables.
Enjoy!
Karen