A Vegetarian Dish A Month – July 2024: Baba Ganoush!

A Vegetarian Dish A Month – July 2024: Baba Ganoush!

After my semi-successful attempts at hummus and toum, I knew I had to try one more dip that I LOVE: baba ganoush.

July 2024: Baba Ganoush

Not to too far from where I live, there’s a Greek place, and not to say anything bad about anything else on their menu, but every now and then, I just NEED to get an order of hummus and baba ganoush to take home. Just give me my hummus, baba ganoush, and some pita bread and I’m a very happy boy.

Much like hummus and toum, the recipe is shockingly simple. But I somehow also knew this was going to be the hardest of the three to make. And I wasn’t wrong.

The final result was good. But not great, like the one from the Greek place, so I’m open to tips! But here’s how I made it!

The Recipe

As always, there are several hundred recipes that come up when you search for “baba ganoush recipe”, so I’m sure everyone makes this traditional dish in a different way, but the recipe I used this time was this one: https://cookieandkate.com/epic-baba-ganoush-recipe/

Eggplant, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Maybe some cumin. And that’s it. It’s basically hummus, but with eggplant instead of chickpeas.

Here’s the short version:

1. Roast the eggplant with some olive oil at 450F until it just melts.
2. Strain the eggplant to remove as much moisture as possible.
3. Add garlic, lemon, and tahini and mix the heck out of it with a fork to break down that eggplant
4. Mix in a bunch of olive oil and some cumin, then salt and lemon juice to taste.

I roasted up my eggplants, but the one I had was really heavy in seeds, which caused me some problems right away. You can see in the next picture how even after really straining it and beating it with a fork, you can still see a lot of seeds. Ate it on ciabatta bread and dipped veggies. Delish.

The Verdict

Mine didn’t come out the beautiful, creamy, perfectly balanced paste that I get at the restaurant, but it was similar enough that I still enjoyed it! Trying to get the right balance of cumin, salt, garlic, and lemon is surprisingly difficult. I tried to do it according to the recipe, but it ended up tasting weird and I had to wing it. The end result was good enough for me, but it definitely made me want to give it another shot for revenge.

If anyone out there has any advice or tips for better baba ganoush (or a recipe you really like), please comment it down below, as this is a dish I’d LOVE to have in my back pocket to bust out anytime the feeling hits. For now…I’ll still be dropping by that Greek place from time to time.

Thanks for reading, all!