A good baba ghanoush is velvety with the smoky, earthy flavours of eggplant, nuttiness of tahini and sparkle of lemon. We know it as a dip but in many countries, but it’s also served as a salad dish. It’s naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, perfect for a paleo and Whole30 diet.
Baba ghanoush is originally from the Levant area (Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria). It’s made with chargrilled eggplant (aubergine), lashings of olive oil, lemon juice and (usually) with tahini and various seasonings. You can use the oven to roast or a BBQ to chargrill the eggplant.
This is my simple recipe for a small batch for baba ghanoush. Some recipes call for an addition of yoghurt or cream, but I think it’s gorgeous and perfectly light without dairy.
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Ingredients
For roasting the eggplant
- 1 large eggplant cut in half, lengthways
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Other ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Tahini paste light coloured
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 garlic clove grated or crushed
- 2/3 teaspoon sea salt
- Pinch of cracked pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200 C / 400 F and bake eggplant, drizzled with olive oil, for 45 minutes or until crispy and dark golden brown. It should be soft on the inside.
- Cool the eggplant for about 1 hour and remove the outer skin only. Cut the flesh roughly and place in a food processor or a blender with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Purée until smooth. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, parsley and some scattered pomegranate to make it extra pretty.
This is delicious!
I used little pencil eggplants from my backyard which were a little hard so I doused them with olive oil and salt before baking them which made them gooey and soft, and the olive oil that had soaked into them gave the final product a nice glossy sheen and consistency. I also added another garlic clove as you can never have too much garlic.
Thank you for this yummy recipe!
Your Baba Ganoush looks delicious! I love the look of the pomegranate seeds scattered across the top; just lovely!
I have found there is a key ingredient missing in a lot of Bobaganuch recipes and since adding it to mine, omg does it pop with a lovely referring citrus sour flavour, sumac! You can even find a great pepper sesame sumac blend called Zaatar seasonigs, you must must must try it!
Thanks for all the great recipes. Is there any substitute that you can think of that could make something similar to this dish or humus without using eggplant or chickpeas? Obviously, chickpeas are not paleo, but I have found that eggplant seems to give me a stomach ache. I’m not sure why, but I avoid it because of that. However, like you, I love the texture and taste of dips like this one.
Om my Irena, what a gorgeous recipe, so so delicious and super easy. Really appreciate you sharing, I always know your recipes are going to be a success, thank you!
Awww, thank you, Kate 🙂