Baba Ghannouj
Baba Ghannuj
Region: Arab Levant, Lebanon
Category: Antipasto, Meze, Tapas, and Hors d'Oeuvres
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy

Bābā ghannūj, an eggplant and tahini puree, also transliterated as baba ghanoush, baba ganoush, and baba ghannouj, is, along with hummus, probably the two most famous mazzāt (plural of meze) in the Middle East. Baba ghannouj, although untranslatable, probably refers to the noble position of the eggplant in the Arabic vegetable hierarchy, namely "father" (Bābā ) eggplant. Ghannouj is a word that means cute, easy, soft, coquettish. Bābā ghannūj is a Lebanese dish. In Palestine the same dish, using a bit less tahini, is called mutabbal. The Arabs have long been fond of the eggplant and medieval Arabic cookery manuscripts always have lots of recipes. The Arabs seem to have discovered the eggplant, called bādhinjān in Arabic, already growing in Persia shortly after their conquest of that country in 642 A.D., although several ancient Arabic names for the eggplant seem to come directly from Indian subcontinent names, indicating that the plant may have arrived in the Arabian peninsula in pre-Islamic times.

As popular as baba ghannouj is in this country, a wonderful example of culinary borrowing, it still seems no one knows how to make it properly. The key in making baba ghannouj is the right proportion of tahini to lemon juice and of the tahini-lemon juice mix to eggplant; you don't want to overpower the eggplant, as sometimes happens.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
Preparation Time: 1 hour

4 medium-size eggplant (about 4 pounds), punctured all over with a fork

9 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

4 large garlic cloves

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

For the garnish:

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Imported black olives

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

1. Preheat a gas grill on high for 20 minutes or prepare a charcoal grill.

2. Grill the eggplant whole until the skins are black and blistered, about 40 minutes or preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and roast for 40 to 45 minutes.  You can also blister the eggplants over an open burner flame. Carefully remove the skins and spoon out the soft pulp just as soon as you can handle the eggplant. Puree the pulp in a food processor, then squeeze or drain out some of the bitter liquid from the eggplant by letting it sit in a strainer over a bowl or the sink for an hour.

3. In a small bowl, slowly mix the lemon juice and tahini together. Pound the garlic and salt together in a mortar until it is a paste, then stir into the tahini mixture. Stir this into the eggplant puree. Taste and add water to thin; never thin with more lemon juice.

4. Pour the mixture into a serving platter and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, the parsley, some black olives, and pomegranates if you desire.

Posted: 10/04/2007