Baked or grilled eggplant blended with tahini, garlic and lemon.
It’s eggplant season! I am lucky to have a patio and a grill, and my husband, James, to grill things for me. I think that eggplant is always better grilled until it’s charred and squishy. But if you can’t do that, bake it in your oven. Then put it in a container with a lid and let it cool completely. Save all the juices that are in the container and put everything in the food processor.
While you’re waiting for your eggplant to grill or bake, here is a bit of eggplant trivia for you—has anyone ever told you that there are male and female eggplants? There is no sex difference among eggplant fruits. The confusion may have come from the fact that eggplant flowers have both male and female parts. Mary Keith, a retired nutrition educator with University of Florida Extension tells us:
“Please, don’t waste any sleep over trying to remember which one is which. There are not ‘male’ or ‘female’ eggplants. They all come from the female organs of the flower, but eggplant flowers have both male and female organs. The seeds they contain will grow into plants that make flowers with both male and female parts. The shape of the scar where the flower fell off doesn’t tell you whether the fruit is a boy or a girl.”
I prefer to eat Baba with tortilla chips, but then I live in Colorado. Pita works too! This recipe uses the same ingredients as the basic hummus recipe, with tahini, lemon and garlic, only with eggplant instead of garbanzo beans.
Baba Ganouj
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- 1 knife and cutting board
- 1 oven or grill
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, (3/4 to 1 lb.) about 1 1/2 to 2 cups baked
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 green onion
- 1.5 TBLS soy sauce
- 1.5 TBLS olive oil
- 1/2 teas black pepper
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh or bottled is fine
Instructions
- If you are grilling the eggplant: slice in half, brush with olive oil, and grill until both sides are slightly charred and the eggplant is soft, about 20 minutes.
- If baking, turn oven to 425, slice the eggplant in half. Coat the sheet pan with olive oil and lay the eggplant sliced side down. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the eggplant is very soft and slightly blackened.
- When the eggplant is cooked, put it in a container and let it cool in the refrigerator for several hours, or overnight.
- Process the garlic, green onion, soy sauce and olive oil with any juices from the eggplant. (You may have to add a spoonful or 2 of water.)
- Add the eggplant and process until blended.
- Add tahini, turn on the processor, and add the lemon juice while the processor is running. Process until smooth.
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