Babaganoush

Yesterday my mum came over. Maybe you can relate… She walks in with bags of fresh veggies for that ‘ Just incase your too busy studying, forgot to go shopping and are eating out of a can’ type situation and I absolutely love her for it!

Among the glorious fresh produce I spotted some violently purple eggplant and knew right away what I wanted to do with them! Babaganoush!!! I do two types of eggplant dips, one that has tahini in it (traditional) which is creamy and smooth and the other is more like a choppy rustic dip which is really nice when I intend to eat crackers with the dip. As you scoop up the dip you notice the roughage of the eggplant and it is heavenly. I know that I may be expecting some visitors of the children kind so I figure smooth creamy… unidentifiable is the way to go.

Not much to it, the one step that really isn’t compulsory but highly recommended is to warm up the garlic in the residual heat of the pan used to cook the eggplant. I have tried this recipe both with raw garlic and the slightly heated garlic and I really think the heated garlic makes a difference.

I was attempting to take a picture of my portable dip and vegies (Yes in a jam jar). All of a sudden my youngest fur baby looked at my handbag thinking I was on the way out the door…clearly he knows the routine lol

Babaganoush 

1 Eggplant whole
2 Garlic cloves, smashed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
juice of 1 lemon
A loving pinch of salt
Sumac to sprinkle on top

Put a frying pan on the heat of the highest heat of the largest burner your stove has. Allow the pan to get stupidly hot and smokey.

Place the eggplant whole, onto the pan and leave it alone for 10 minutes before flipping it over and allowing it to cook for another 10 minutes.

Transfer the eggplant to a plastic bag and keep on a heatproof surface for a good 5-10 minutes until it is cool enough for you to handle.

Allow the pan to cool slightly and then using the residual heat from the pan, add the olive oil and smashed garlic. As you put the garlic in the pan the cloves should barely sizzle, you just want it to basically infuse with the oil and take out some of rawness. Keep the garlic in the pan until your ready to use it.

Tear open the bag to expose the eggplant. The bag will catch any of the mess 🙂

Cut a small incision through the skin and begin to remove the charred skin. Peel the top surface off so that you can get a spoon in there and scoop all that flesh out.

Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh

Put the flesh into a blender, along with the garlic, tahini, lemon juice and salt.

Blend until smooth and creamy

I topped my dip with Sumac which has a lemony aroma and tastes amazing! If I haven’t got that on hand I would normally just top the dip with either smoked or sweet paprika.

When I am heading out, I put some Babaganoush into a small jar and fill with sticks of celery and carrot. The dip has no yoghurt in it so it will hold up pretty well without a the luxury of a fridge.

Don’t just limit yourself to dips with cheese sticks, crackers and vegetables. Babaganoush goes perfect with lamb, fish and grilled vegies * Homer Simpson drooling moment*

I hope you enjoy this dip my lovelies and until next week, stay well until then xoxoxo