Baba Ghanoush

Eggplants have been everywhere. I was getting sick of dicing them up and putting them into only curries or stir fries. Then I remembered the ever so delicious baba ghanoush, and low and behold, I realized that all the ingredients I needed I could get here. The roasted walnuts added a nice crunch and flavor. I love this dish, and although it's a bit time consuming, if done right, you will not be disappointed. The eggplant is supposed to be blended, but I like the bigger chunks so I used a fork to smash what I could and then cut up the other large pieces with a knife. Also, if you cannot find a paper bag to sweat the eggplant in, you can just put them in a clean plastic bag instead. Ideally, the eggplant should be baked or roasted for long periods of time, but the paper bag trick was something I read on the grand internet and seems to have worked just as well. That said, this dish is the stuff of my dreams, so delicious!



Makes about 3 to 4 nice sized servings [or 1 serving if you are really hungry like I was]

Ingredients:

Eggplant, 3 medium, or 2 large, cut in half lengthwise
Oil for cooking, like olive oil
Garlic, about 4 or 5 cloves, diced up
Cumin seeds, a small pinch
Onion, 1/2 of a medium one, diced up
Walnuts, about 1/4 cup's worth, chopped up finely
Lemon, 1/2 or 1 small lime
ねりごま(練り胡麻) sesame paste, which you can usually find next to the sesame seeds at your grocery store, or tahini paste (which is basically the same thing), about 1 to 2 tablespoons worth

Spices and dried herbs to taste, such as:
Curry powder, I used 1/2 teaspoon
Black pepper
Oregano
Basil

Sesame seeds, for garnish, about 1/2 teaspoon

Using a knife, poke a few wholes on the purple skin of each eggplant slice.

In a large fry pan, heat up some olive oil. Add the eggplant skin side up and let it fry. Be careful not to burn it too much, or to allow the eggplant to stick to the pan. Cover the pan to let the eggplant steam itself while frying it.

Flip the eggplant over to the skin side and again be sure not to let it stick to the pan. You want the eggplant to cook enough to where the inside is super moist and rather mushy. Remove from the heat and place all the eggplant in a paper bag and close. Let sit for 20 minutes or so to let the skin become soft.

Meanwhile, heat some more oil in the pan. Add the cumin seeds and the garlic. Fry this over medium heat for a bit, right before the garlic begins to toast. Then add the onions and allow the garlic to becomes a bit brown and crispy, but not burnt.

Remove the garlic and onions and any excess oil from the pan and put aside.

In the same fry pan, add the walnuts and turn the heat up to medium. Use a wooden spoon to constantly move the walnuts around. The walnuts will go from seemingly fresh to burnt VERY quickly, so watch them carefully and move them constantly. When a nice toast begins to develop, lower the heat and let them roast a bit while continuing to move them around with a wooden spoon or spatula. Be sure not to burn them, you want them roasted and fragrant, not burnt.

After letting the eggplant sit in the bag for 20 minutes, use a spoon to scoop out the insides of each eggplant slice into a large bowl. Once all the insides are scooped out, use a fork to smash it all up. If the insides are not mushy enough to mash up with a fork, simply cut up all the inside scooped out stuff on a cutting board using a knife (that's what I did). Cut it into very small pieces.

Add the desired spices to the bowl with the eggplant and mix. Add the lemon juice and the sesame paste to the bowl and mix. Add the onion and garlic mixture you had set aside, mix. Finally, add the roasted walnuts and mix everything well.

Place the mixture in a serving dish and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. You can use the baba ghanoush to spread on stuff, with chips, or just eat it plain while still hot. It tastes great cold too, so it's something you can add to a bento if you'd like. Now you've found something delicious to make with all that eggplant currently in season. Happy nom nom!

Note: don't throw the eggplant skins away, eat them! They are delicious. What I did was in a tortilla (or I guess you could use naan or pita if available) I placed the skins, topped them with the baba ghanoush, the guacamole, the Pico de gallo, and some leftover beans I had to make a makeshift taco. In other words, you can restuff the skins with the baba ghanoush for some more wonderful eggplant flavor.