Baba Ganoush

Hummus is a glorious dip, which is well suited to dehydration and backpacking before the addition of oil. It will save any lunch.

Makes 2 portions

Ingredients

  • 2 eggplants
  • 1tsp tahini
  • 1/2 lemon for its juice
  • 25g yoghurt
  • fresh garlic
  • salt
  • sumac
  • pomegranate
  • olive oil

For the eggplants:

Roast eggplants in the oven. This is a little messy, so put them on something to gather the liquids which will come out.

The goal is to cook them in the oven as if they were cooking on coals, my favorite way. So use high temperatures, I use 200°C, and roast them for 45min without any protection from the oven’s heating elements. The skin needs to turn black and carbonize in some places. Don’t worry! the inside won’t burn. This is how you get the typical smokiness in the baba ganoush.

Remember, a couple holes will prevent eggplant explosions. Up to you whether you like the excitement.

Let them cool slightly, and then tear them open a little bit. Leave them to drip for 10 min or so in a strainer.

Baba ganoush:

For making the dip, I prefer to use a spoon to scrape the cooked flesh out of the skin. This should be a fairly easy process.

Once you have all the flesh, chop it up finely with a knife. I prefer this to the blender version, but do explore! In my experience, this method helps to keep the correct amount of liquid: once you are done chopping, just pick the eggplant up and transfer it to a bowl, leaving most of the liquid on the cutting board.

In the bowl add lemon juice, garlic paste (just squished garlic, I use 1/5 of a clove), salt, yogurt, and tahini (make your own Tahini). Add the ingredients a little bit at a time, so you can adjust to your liking.

Spread it so as to create a pool for the olive oil. I like to make a little island in the middle just because. Add sumac and pomegranate seeds on top.

This is especially delicious over toasted bread.

Section author: Davide