`Roasted Eggplant Dip with Olive Oil, Lemon, Tahini - Olive Oil Times
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Roasted Eggplant Dip with Olive Oil, Lemon, Tahini

This roasted eggplant dip known as Baba Ghannouj is a unique and wonderful mezze dish that will wow your guests and become new a favorite snack. Make sure to fully roast the eggplant for a deep, sweet/smoky flavor that's hard to beat.
Roasted Eggplant Dip with Olive Oil, Lemon, and Tahini.
By Paul Kostandin
Nov. 3, 2021 13:58 UTC

Roasted egg­plant dip is one of my absolute favorite used for egg­plant. While I may have dis­liked egg­plant as a child, as an adult it’s become one of my favorite veg­eta­bles. The rich, smoky/sweet fla­vor that per­me­ates beau­ti­fully roasted egg­plant is one of the best things about cook­ing with egg­plants and while I’ll always love Eggplant Parmesan, Baba Ghannouj has become my favorite use for this incred­i­ble veg­etable. 

For the unini­ti­ated Bad Ghannouj is a roasted egg­plant dip com­mon in Mediterranean and mid­dle easter cuisines. Seasoned with fresh chopped gar­lic, lemon juice, and a gen­er­ous amount of tahini, this sweet, smoky, spicy mezze dip is the per­fect accom­pa­ni­ment to fresh pita and roasted meats. 

I was first intro­duced to Baba Ghannouj while cook­ing in a Lebanese restau­rant years ago. While I will always be the first to say that Greek food is some of the best in the world, the cui­sine of Lebanon found its way to my heart through my stom­ach, and Baba Ghannouj was a big part of that cam­paign. 

The way the rich tahini blends with tart lemon, spicy gar­lic, and finally the sweet/smokey roasted egg­plant fla­vor is truly amaz­ing. Eggplant has a sort of numb­ing qual­ity at times when eaten in large amounts, and this dip has an almost elec­tric qual­ity that’s hard to describe. 

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When mak­ing Baba Ghannouj the biggest ques­tion is: ​“how do you want to pre­pare the egg­plants?” While roast­ing your egg­plants in a high heat oven is a per­fectly accept­able way to pre­pare your egg­plant dip, grilling them over a char­broiler is in my opin­ion the best way to get the most fla­vor out of this recipe. I per­son­ally like to use a char­coal grill, but if you’ve got a gas grill at home that will work just fine as well. If you don’t have access to a grill, don’t worry, your Baba Ghannouj with be just as deli­cious, you just won’t get to use a grill which I think is half the fun. 

Once you’ve roasted the egg­plants and they are soft and ten­der to the touch, allow them to cool before peel­ing away the roasted skin. Try to reserve as much of the flesh as pos­si­ble before chop­ping it into a rough puree on a cut­ting board with a sharp knife. You can use a blender or food proces­sor for this step, but be care­ful, the egg­plant will break down really quickly and I think a knife is eas­ier to use given the fact that it takes a minute tops to prop­erly chop the egg­plant by hand. 

To fin­ish the Baba Ghannouj, mix the chopped egg­plant with salt, pep­per, fresh gar­lic, extra vir­gin olive oil, lemon, and lots of tahini. The tahini and olive oil will help thicken the egg­plant dip by cre­at­ing an emul­sion that gives Baba Ghannouj its rich creamy tex­ture. 

For this recipe, I like to use a lighter, fruitier extra vir­gin olive oil that will blend well with the sweet, roasted egg­plant and nutty tahini. A fuller-bod­ied olive oil would add to much bit­ter­ness and over­power the dip, so stick with some­thing light and vibrant. 

roasted-eggplant-dip-with-olive-oil-lemon-tahini-olive-oil-times-roasted-eggplant-dip-with-olive-oil-lemon-and-tahini

Roasted Eggplant Dip with Olive Oil, Lemon, and Tahini

5from6votes
Course: Appetizers, SnacksCuisine: Mediterranean, Middle-EasternDifficulty: Medium
Servings

6

serv­ings
Prep time

20

min­utes
Cooking time

25

min­utes

This roasted egg­plant dip known as Baba Ghannouj is a unique and won­der­ful mezze dish that will wow your guests and become new a favorite snack espe­cially if you’re already a fan of egg­plant. Make sure to fully roast the egg­plant for a deep, sweet/smoky fla­vor that’s hard to beat.

Ingredients

  • For the roasted egg­plants

  • 2eachmedium-sized egg­plants

  • 1/4 cupextra vir­gin olive oil

  • 1tspsalt

  • For the baba ghan­nouj

  • 2earoasted egg­plant, skin removed and chopped

  • 1/4cuplemon juice

  • 2clovesgar­lic, chopped

  • 1/4cupextra vir­gin olive oil

  • 1/2cuptahini

  • 1tspsalt

  • 1tspground black pep­per

Directions

  • To roast the egg­plant
  • Preheat your grill or oven to 425°f.
  • Season the egg­plants with olive oil and salt and then place them in the oven or on the grill once it has heated fully.
  • Allow the egg­plants to roast until com­pletely ten­der. If you are grilling the egg­plants you will need to flip them halfway through the cook­ing process.
  • Remove the egg­plants from the grill or oven and allow them to cool before remov­ing the outer skin and chop­ping the roasted egg­plant meat.
  • To pre­pare the egg­plant dip
  • In a bowl com­bine the chopped, roasted egg­plant along with the remain­ing ingre­di­ents
  • Mix all the ingre­di­ents together until they form a rich, creamy dip.
  • Taste the dip for sea­son­ing and adjust as nec­es­sary.
  • Serve with fresh pita or crispy pita chips.

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