What is baba ganoush?
My friend Florencia asked me to prepare Baba Ganoush Israeli style .She thought would be a good idea once would be closer to the Festivities of Ha’atzmaut for Tuesday April 28 , 2020 .
I will teach step by step of this recipe and She will do a broad streaming from PJ Library Winnipeg using Zoom on Sunday (GMT-5) at 3 pm on 26 April 2020. People willing to participate to see my Cooking Class contact please : https://www.jewishwinnipeg.org/engagement/pj-library they will provide ID Meeting and Password .
IF you are reading this after our ” meeting” just follow this recipe step by step. It s pretty easy, the ingredients I used were all Kosher. I normally do my own Tahini sauce but because Pj Library wanted a faster and easier version I will teach with the ” ready to go” tahini you can find in the any market. Make sure you get it from light seeds, not “dark tahini”. I got two of them that were certified Kosher but the one Kosher for Passover ACHVA/Israeli 100% whole sesame was dark seeds so when I was ready to use I realized I had to open the other bottle of Organic Fair Trade Sesame Tahni , that contain the lighter seeds. There are so many styles of this Recipe but I will teach My version that is a bit more Classic. During the summer you can use the Barbecue for grilling the Eggplants but today was windy and felt like -3 oC so I used the oven instead.
In Arabic, “baba” means father and “ghanoush” means spoiled. This “spoiled dad” dip is the creamier companion to hummus. Popular in Arab countries throughout the Middle East, it is also a common appetizer on the Sephardic Jewish table. In Israel, it is known as eggplant salad, or Salat Hatzilim. (source: Tori Avey)
Every time I go to friends’s house and I ask : what should I bring? – 70% of the time the answer is : your Baba Ganoush ! So here we go!
Ingredients
2 mediums black eggplants Roasted and chopped
3 table spoons of tahini from light seeds, not “dark tahini”
1 table spoon of Almond hazelnut Butter
1 lemon squeezed
1 whole Garlic head Roasted wrapped in aluminium foil with olive oil , salt , pepper and dried basil
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 cup of Extra virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 tea spoon of course sea salt or Himalayan salt
for seasoning the 2 eggplants:
1 tea spoon of ground black pepper
1 tea spoon of Chipotle powder
1 table spoon of Provence herbs
1 table spoon of Himalayan salt
what else you will need: blender or Food Processor Parchment paper rectangle tray aluminum foil container with a lid for garnish : extra olive oil and I used Kosher Badia Zaatar Mediterranean Seasoning (Containing several herbs prominently featuring hyssop, together with sesame seeds, salt, and a zesty hint of lemon)
instructions:
Turn on the oven to 350 F, if you going to use barbecue than this process will be faster . In the oven takes 45min – one hour, at the Barbecue will be 15-20 minutes. For Oven directions, get a tray than cut each egg plant in half , remove the endings and place facing white part up, sprinkle Himalayan salt in each side and ground pepper with the chipotle powder and the Provence herbs. Turn the black side of the eggplants and sprinkle salt and pepper only and than drizzle olive oil on both sides of the egg plant. Place the eggplants the white part facing down on parchment paper, it will stay that way , do not turn . Get the Garlic head with a sharp knife cut to top of the garlic head, get a 20x 20 cm long aluminum foil and place the garlic head in the center using the shinning part. Make sure you make a basket with the foil and add 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil on top of the garlic, some salt and pepper with Provence herbs.Close the basket. Transfer the basked to the tray and place in the over for 45 minutes. If you going to use barbecue make sure you do the same process , including the basket garlic but the time will be less, you will need to turn the eggplant after 10 min, than another 10 min the black side.
Once is ready remove the eggplants and garlic from the Barbecue or the tray from the over, let cool down a bit and cut the eggplant in squares. Separate. Get the food processor or the blender and add the egg plant, than squeeze that garlic basket with the oil, add all the other ingredients: Tahini from light seeds, Almond hazelnut Butter , lemon squeezed, salt, 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, cumin and salt.
Than blend for 1-2 minutes with the skin of eggplant. Some people don’t like ” darker ” baba ganoush but I do. The eggplant skin has many nutritious properties, eating the whole eggplant is a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B1 and copper. It is a good source of manganese, vitamin B6, niacin, potassium, folate and vitamin K. Eggplant also contains phytonutrients such as nasunin and chlorogenic acid. If you think is too thick mixture just add a bit more of olive oil. Taste if needs more salt. If you are allergic to Nuts than just skip the hazelnut -almond butter, Other butters I tried that worked well was cashew butter and macadamia. Peanut butter does not work very well.
Transfer the baba ganoush to a container with lid and cover with extra virgin olive oil and zaatar . That is to avoid to dry up the top , every time you consume it add olive oil before you put back in the fridge . And always cover it and you must finish eating before 7 days. After that you will need to do a fresh one. Freezing it does not work very well, it loses the freshness and the texture will be weird.
Eat with fresh pita, naan , fresh bread or cracker. Tonight I will deep fry some homemade falafel and serve with pita, Israeli salad with baba ganoush. If you want to know more about the properties of Eggplant here is a nice link :
This is the Facebook link with my Cooking class:
https://www.facebook.com/PJLibraryWinnipeg/videos/159806145434940/
