I dare you to keep a straight face while serving this to your guests. “Hi guys! Would you care for some Baba Ghanoush?” Your guests may look puzzled at this point and start to laugh awkwardly, which is when you’ll need to step in and explain what in the world it is.
Baba Ghanoush. It’s basically roasted eggplant dip. The way to make it is similar to hummus, and really the two dishes share a lot of the same ingredients. It’s the perfect appetizer to serve guests not only due to the conversation starter name, but also because it’s so versatile. Try experimenting with different spices and serving it with various finger foods. We like to use pita bread for dunking, but you can certainly serve vegetables, crackers, or chips. It also works great as a spread for a sandwich or wrap. Delicious and healthy.
Enjoy! Baba Ghanoush!
Ingredients:
2 eggplants
1/3 cup tahini
1 lemon, juiced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450°. Cut eggplant lengthwise and place on a baking sheet skin side down. Bake for 25 minutes until roasted and soft when poked with a fork.
Allow roasted eggplant to cool and scoop out the inside flesh into a food processor. Add all other ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil to finish.
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Funny name but sounds delicious!
Hi Anna! Let us know if you try it out and like it!
Every time I see “baba ghanoush,” I think it could be a pet name for someone. “How’s my little baba ghanoush?!” :3
Anyway, even though I’ve never tried eggplant, this sounds great! Thanks for sharing! (and for the Twitter follow!)
Ha! That’s hilarious, Leah. You will love eggplant! Try it- I like it best fried, in an eggplant parmesan. Yum. We have a recipe for fried eggplant in our recipe index.
As a Lebanese and middle estern,this is a staple mezzeh dish in my country. we eat it as a side dish for lahmeh meshouie or roasted chicken or by itself with just bread. you call it here baba ghannoush. but it’s truly moutabbal batenjan which means ( mixed eggplant) baba Ghanoush or Ghannouj as we pronounce it, is made of grilled eggplant mixed with tomatoes, chopped walnut if desired, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil and etc…. If you are interested I’ll send you the complete recipe. It is a totaly different dish that doesn’t contain any tahini.