Baba Ganoush
Jun. 20th, 2013 07:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinI don't know how traditional this recipe is, all I know is it's delicious. And it's the most unscientific recipe I have so I hope you can follow my vagueness.
For our friends across the pond, replace 'eggplant' with 'aubergine.' I don't know why it's called an eggplant here, and I don't know why in French it seems to have something to do with an inn, but let's save linguistic discussions for the comments (no really it's very interesting please comment if you know).
BABA GANOUSH
2 medium eggplants
1/4 c olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic
salt
tahini
a bit of water
Preheat oven to 350°.*
Peel and crush or mince garlic into the olive oil, reserving one clove for later. Set aside to let 'steep.' (You can do this well in advance for more garlicky oil.) Salt can be mixed in at this point or done later, it doesn't really matter. You know how much salt you like but I usually use maybe 1/4 tsp? The garlic reduces the need for salt, I find.
Trim off top and slice eggplants lengthways. You can sweat it if you want to but I find this makes little to no difference so I rarely bother.
Spoon the garlic/oil as evenly as possible over the cut surfaces, using it all. Give the thicker ends a little more if you have some left over.
Place cut-side-up on a cookie sheet or other impermeable surface and put in oven, not too close the element if you have an electric one.
This is the unscientific part, because I usually make this while doing chores on a Saturday, so for me the cooking time is 'till it, or I, am done.' I would guess it would finish in 45 minutes to an hour, but you will be able to tell when it's done because the tops will be brown and the bottoms will have sort of melted into the cookie sheet a bit. As long as the eggplant is soft all the way through it's done; I like it really toasty so I err on the longer side. It's only overdone when it's burnt, but the longer you leave it in the more liquid evaporates and the smaller your batch will be, which is sad.
When it is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit.** When cool, scoop the goo out of the skin into a medium mixing bowl and mash it with a fork, or use two forks and cut/mix it with a scissor motion to break up the strings.
Add tahini – I usually find a couple tablespoons does it, though I never measure it. It can overpower the mix very quickly so be judicious!
Crush last remaining garlic clove into this and mix. (Add salt here, if you didn't before.)
I find adding a couple tablespoons of water at this point helps to make it extra creamy and dippable – the tahini can make it a bit thick and dry.
NOW EAT IT. If you can manage to save any for later you are doing better than me.
*I have made this with a friend who only had one of those combo-function microwave grill things; with the micro on medium and the grill on high it took 20 minutes and came out perfectly. I don't know if this translates to anyone else, but there you go.
**No matter how good it smells and how anxious you may be to eat your baba ganoush, working with hot oily eggplant goo is going to be more frustrating than waiting. I know this.
For our friends across the pond, replace 'eggplant' with 'aubergine.' I don't know why it's called an eggplant here, and I don't know why in French it seems to have something to do with an inn, but let's save linguistic discussions for the comments (no really it's very interesting please comment if you know).
BABA GANOUSH
2 medium eggplants
1/4 c olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic
salt
tahini
a bit of water
Preheat oven to 350°.*
Peel and crush or mince garlic into the olive oil, reserving one clove for later. Set aside to let 'steep.' (You can do this well in advance for more garlicky oil.) Salt can be mixed in at this point or done later, it doesn't really matter. You know how much salt you like but I usually use maybe 1/4 tsp? The garlic reduces the need for salt, I find.
Trim off top and slice eggplants lengthways. You can sweat it if you want to but I find this makes little to no difference so I rarely bother.
Spoon the garlic/oil as evenly as possible over the cut surfaces, using it all. Give the thicker ends a little more if you have some left over.
Place cut-side-up on a cookie sheet or other impermeable surface and put in oven, not too close the element if you have an electric one.
This is the unscientific part, because I usually make this while doing chores on a Saturday, so for me the cooking time is 'till it, or I, am done.' I would guess it would finish in 45 minutes to an hour, but you will be able to tell when it's done because the tops will be brown and the bottoms will have sort of melted into the cookie sheet a bit. As long as the eggplant is soft all the way through it's done; I like it really toasty so I err on the longer side. It's only overdone when it's burnt, but the longer you leave it in the more liquid evaporates and the smaller your batch will be, which is sad.
When it is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit.** When cool, scoop the goo out of the skin into a medium mixing bowl and mash it with a fork, or use two forks and cut/mix it with a scissor motion to break up the strings.
Add tahini – I usually find a couple tablespoons does it, though I never measure it. It can overpower the mix very quickly so be judicious!
Crush last remaining garlic clove into this and mix. (Add salt here, if you didn't before.)
I find adding a couple tablespoons of water at this point helps to make it extra creamy and dippable – the tahini can make it a bit thick and dry.
NOW EAT IT. If you can manage to save any for later you are doing better than me.
*I have made this with a friend who only had one of those combo-function microwave grill things; with the micro on medium and the grill on high it took 20 minutes and came out perfectly. I don't know if this translates to anyone else, but there you go.
**No matter how good it smells and how anxious you may be to eat your baba ganoush, working with hot oily eggplant goo is going to be more frustrating than waiting. I know this.
Eggplant
Date: 2013-06-21 01:04 am (UTC)Re: Eggplant
Date: 2013-06-21 01:16 am (UTC)Yeah, someone on LJ posted a photo – wild! Which then begs the question: why doesn't everyone call it eggplant? (In their respective languages of course.)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-21 02:35 am (UTC)Apparently eggplant/aubergine comes in white, in addition to the purple variety that seems to be the best-known. I just googled "white eggplant", having seen a picture like this before.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-21 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-22 04:55 am (UTC)I am totally making this.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-22 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-22 06:15 am (UTC)Not at all! I'm looking forward to when eggplants show up in the farmer's market and I can make it.