I’ve being curious about baba ghanoush since when I listened to BABAGANOUSH by Madame. The first time I made it cooking the eggplant in the home oven, but it didn’t come out good. So I’ve found this article on Seriouseats.com and managed to make a great baba ghanoush with very low effort
The recipe is available on the website, I’ll just share some thoughts.
Roasting the eggplant was the key for the recipe. Luckily I have an outdoor gas barbecue, and I roasted the eggplant for 35 minutes at about 200/250°C However, the articles doesn’t mention this, but you really need to make some cuts on the eggplant skin otherwise it will likely explode due to water turning into steam too quickly. It actually happened to me, but it didn’t turn into separate pieces, so I was still able to cook it
Unlike the article’s recipe, I used mint instead of parsley, mostly because I had the impression that mint was more “traditional”. I think it combined really really good, and together with lemon juice greatly balanced the highly smoky flavour of the roasted eggplants.
I don’t know if this is common knowledge, however recipes as baba ghanoush or hummus as well seem to taste better if you eat them only after letting them cool down in the fridge for a while. I made baba ghanoush yesterday, and right after making it, it tasted really good but the smoky flavour mostly covered the eggplant taste. I eat it again today and I find that the different flavours are much more detectable, so if you can, try to cook it a couple of hours before serving, I think it is really worth it
We have a place here that has Baba that is unbelievable. I worked for years to perfect it and managed to make a perfect copycat. When it's right, it's just one of the best things.
Now I’m curious to know where is that place but most of all what is your recipe
The place I'm referring to is called Pita Jungle. Their baba is a bit healthier I think than the Serious Eats one, can't find a super great picture of it, but this is it. My copycat is below, instructions are for a gas range but would be similar on a grill.
2 medium eggplants roasted
5 tbs tahini
3 tbs plain yogurt (not Greek)
5 roasted garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil
To roast the garlic, cut of the top of a head and wrap in foil. Pour some olive oil over the top, twist foil closed and roast in the oven, 45 minutes at 400F (no preheat). Poke eggplants in several places with a fork to vent. Roast eggplants by covering in foil and roasting over a gas flame set to Medium. Use the biggest burner, set at the halfway point - it has to burn the eggplant somewhat to get the smoke flavor. Roast the eggplant 7 minutes per quarter-turn until eggplants are soft (28 minutes total, 1 full rotation over the flames). Remove eggplants from foil/fire and allow to cool. Peel eggplant and put half in the blender, set aside the other half.
Along with half of the eggplant, add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend until thoroughly creamy. Add the second half of the eggplant and blend, but only slightly, leaving some texture.
Chill, serve with charred pita (char over a big burner on low for 1 minute per side), garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, sliced cucumber, tomato wedges and kalamata olives.