Baba Ghanoush/Ghanouj
Description
Even if you think you don't like eggplant, this easy dip will blow your mind. Smoky, creamy, garlicky and luscious - served with flatbread, veggies or beside kabobs - it's just amazing.
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat the Broil function on your oven to High
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Prep the Eggplant
Put a rack near the top of the oven. This recipe can be made on a gas stove directly on the flame or on a BBQ, see the recipe for Roasted Red Peppers for more information on how to do it that way.
Poke your eggplant several times with a fork so that as the eggplant heats up, not too much steam builds inside the eggplant and causes it to split or explode.
Place the eggplant on a baking sheet or in a baking pan and put it in the oven close to the broiler element but without touching it. Keep your eyes (and your nose) alert - you want to char the skin on all sides of the eggplant and for the flesh to get soft and collapse a bit. When you see that one side is charred, take tongs and flip the eggplant so another, uncharred, side is facing the broiler element.
This took us about 40 minutes, your timing might be different. This is the most time-consuming and "difficult" part of the recipe.
Put the eggplant (and any juices in the pan) in a bowl, pop a plate over top and let it both steam and cool down.
Take the eggplant out of the bowl, cut off the stem and use a spoon to scrape all the eggplant flesh off of the charred skin and put it in the bowl that may, or may not, have eggplant juices in it. Make sure you get all of the flesh and browned bits but if you get a few bits of the charred skin, that's okay too.
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Processing
Put the roasted eggplant flesh and juices into a food processor (you may be able to use a blender but I haven't tried that). Process for just 20 seconds or so to break up the flesh.
Add all the other ingredients except for the olive oil (garlic through pepper) and process briefly again. Take the lid off, scrape down the sides, and process again until you have a smooth puree. With the food processor running, add the olive oil through the opening in the lid until it is just incorporated, then turn it off.
Serve in a bowl or on a plate with a drizzle of olive oil, some flatbread, a sprinkle o za-atar and/or some lemon wedges.
