For a long time, the idea of eggplant made me slightly queasy. It was a weird vegetable — kind of soft, kind of bitter, unpredictably textured. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. So I avoided it for years. What I needed was a gateway to eggplant, an ambassador from the other side. Baba ghanoush, Papa Eggplant, as my Greek friend calls it, was what I needed.
Ever since I was introduced to baba ghanoush, that smooth, creamy, smoky eggplant dip, I've been hooked. It gave me the gumption to try other eggplant dishes too, and finally fall in love with the big purple thing. (My latest favorite: this eggplant salad).
Eggplant, of course, is a summer vegetable but, like lemons, I keep it in my kitchen year-round. It's just a vegetable that feels so right for winter, especially when roasted and whipped into a dip like this. In the summertime I do like to grill the eggplant for even more smokiness; it tastes so good with its fresh garlic and the bite of tahini. Try this spread on good sandwich bread with soft cheese and crunchy vegetables.
Like many classic Mediterranean and Middle Eastern recipes, baba ghanoush comes in many forms. Some people only make it with tahini; others don't. This is my preferred method. Make it your own, though, especially if you're looking for your own gateway to eggplant.
D.I.Y. Baba Ghanoush
Makes 1 to 1 1/2 cups, enough to serve 4 people as an appetizer1 large eggplant (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds)
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1 lemon
1/4 cup tahini
Freshly ground black pepper
Ground sumac, to garnish
Heat the oven to 425ºF. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Oil the cut side lightly with olive oil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt. Roast, cut side up, for 1 hour, or until very soft and blackened around the edges. The eggplant halves will be puffy and expanded, but will collapse as they cool. Let cool for 1 hour.
Scoop the flesh away from the skin and discard the skin. Put the eggplant flesh in in a fine mesh strainer. Press out and drain any juice that will come out. Transfer to a mortar or food processor. Add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and black pepper and blend thoroughly until very smooth. Taste and add additional lemon juice, olive oil, salt, or pepper to taste, if desired.
Refrigerate for at least one hour to let the flavors blend. Before serving dust lightly with ground sumac. Serve with warm pita bread, baked chips, or chopped raw vegetables.
Refrigerate any leftovers in a covered container for up to five days.

Related: Why is My Eggplant Bitter?
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Comments (21)
Two points.
The choice of tahini sauce is really important when making hummus or baba ghanoush. Sahadi's in brooklyn has their own line of tahini, and it is great. Wholefoods also has a brand that's great. Don't settle for the can stuff.
A second thing; if the consistency of your hummus or baba ghanoush is too think, add a little water to it. I can't stress the importance of the added water enough.
Last night I was looking through my cookbooks for a baba ghanoush recipe (I hadn't seen this post yet). One recipe I looked at called for paprika and coriander, and the other fresh cilantro. Has anyone added any of these seasonings to their baba ghanoush?
Claudia Rodan in Arabesque has a Lebanese variation that adds 3/4 to 4/5 cup of strained
Greek-style Yogurt.
The rest of the ingredients are prettly much the same.
But instead of 1 eggplant she is using 2 (about 1 1/2 lbs) and 3 TB Tahini.
She also opts for pricking them to keep from exploding and turning them over a gas burner, barbecue or under the broiler till the skin is charred and they feel very soft. That way you get the smoky flavor.
I've done it over a gas burner and although it comes out beautifully, the cleanup is ungodly.
I've had a similar version in Bitar's in Philadelphia many times and it is delicious.
I second the recommendation of Sahadi's tahini. We don't have Whole Foods in west Alabama, but my local health food store, Manna Groceries, carries the brand. Delicious!
I've been adding smoked paprika and a little balsamic vinegar to my baba ghanoush -- the extra smokiness and the sweet-and-sour flavor from the vinegar are delicious.
Baba Ghanoush is a very popular middle Eastern dish that is prepared with roasted/grilled eggplants. Same is with Muttabal, another dip that is prepared with roasted/grilled eggplants.
Many people, even some restaurants, use the names of both dishes interchangeably. In the middle East the dish prepared with Tahini sauce (your recipe) refers to Muttablal. For Baba ghanoush, roast the eggplant and peel, then chop, add a finely diced tomato, 2 cloves garlic (crushed) and some chopped parsley. add salt, lemon juice, olive oil and some clack pepper, mix well and you have baba ghanoush another delicious Middle Eastern dish. hope you enjoy:)
your site is really nice:)
@seta - thanks for clarifying! there is a restaurant near me who serves "baba ghanoush" which i'm pretttty sure has tahini in it! IT should be be muttabal, shouldn't it??
Over the weekend I was telling a friend how baba ghaboush is one of my top three favorite food items. I love late summer when my garden is overgrown with eggplants. Appx 3/4 of them go towards some variation of this dish.
I love baba ghanoush! I've tried to make it a few times myself, but always end up with awful results because the eggplants I've used are full of seeds. I recently heard that if you get the baby eggplants instead of the usual purple monsters you won't have that problem--anyone else try that, or have another solution?
the key for me is to "burn" the eggplant directly on the gas flame. it gives the dish a wonderful smoky flavor. over the weekend I tried the recipe from Plenty cookbook that adds pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds to baba ghanoush: really good!
I've added cilantro and really liked it. I also make an Indian version of this dish without tahini and add ginger, cumin and tomatoes: http://www.mangotomato.com/2010/03/roasted-eggplant-tomato-dip-with-indian.html
Whoa. You read my mind. Just last night I searched this very site for a Baba Ghanoush recipe and happened upon this exact post that you have re-posted here today. Kinda eerie.
Making this tonight or tomorrow. Been craving this stuff.
msmla, mine are usually full of seeds too, but I find that they just blend right in. What kind of problem do you notice with them? Bitterness? Or can you feel the texture? I would definitely recommend draining thoroughly, and also make sure you blend until really smooth.
I've bought homemade baba from a local middle eastern market (as well as a time or two when I got it in a restaurant) where it tasted like cigarettes (though other times it tastes AMAZING!). Not a good smokey taste but a bad one! Any recommendations on how to avoid getting that flavor?
I've been using egg plant (or Aubergine as us over the pond call it) for quite a while now, me and my partner love it. We will certainly be trying the dip, it looks amazing
I've loved eggplant/augergine since I was a little kid. If you have older, larger eggplants the seeds can be bitter. Slice or cube your eggplant, salt it, put it in a colander, and let it drain for about half an hour or so. Then rinse and pat/squeeze out the excess moisture.
Eggplant parmigiana is food of the gods, and if I weren't quite so lazy I'd make it much more often and probably weigh 800 pounds because I just can't stop eating the stuff. (And for those of use who don't have gas ranges and can't singe our eggplants over direct flames roasting in the oven works very well for baba ghanoush...)
I just pop a whole (unpricked & uncut) eggplant onto a dry pan (or on my cast iron griddle). You keep the heat relatively low, and then you walk away. A bit later, when that first side has mushed down nicely, come back and flip it. When the whole eggplant is brown and soft (after a couple of flips onto uncooked/unbrowned sides), then you can cut into it and scoop out the cooked eggplant. It's a super low-effort and low-maintenance way to cook eggplant for dips, and there is very little to clean up (it occasionally drips a bit, but barely).
I made a version over the holidays that used balsamic vinegar, tahini, and roasted garlic. I don't even know if you can call that baba ghanoush, at that point, but the tahini + balsamic vinegar combination was a serendipitous match made in heaven.
Try it with pomegranate seeds; it adds a nice tartness to the eggplant.
I've been boiling peeled eggplant chunks in a smoky bath by adding a little liquid smoke to the water. The smoke flavor is delicate and wonderful. Really, try it! And a Middle Eastern restaurant near me always serves it with a dusting of tart ground sumac. You can get it in a specialty grocery. It tastes almost lemony and wonderful. There's no end to the fun you can have with eggplant! Here's the link to the recipe:
http://wp.me/p2LOx3-2I
I used to stray away from eggplant, too, but I'm actually a big fan of baba ghanoush. It's similarity to hummus is just so familiar that I can't help but love it. Also, with so many different types of eggplant ranging in different flavor profiles (i.e. Japanese = sweet, Indian = sour, etc.) there's bound to be an eggplant for everyone's tastes!