Baba Ganoush is one of those things that has made its way from Arab culture to Israeli culture to Trader Joe’s. It’s also one of those things, though it is available world wide, that will always be better in the Middle East. I always kind of liked it and I always kind of wondered what was in it (eggplants are purple and green! Why is it white??!), but really, my feelings towards it were much like its physical appearance, off-white and mushy–I didn’t care much about it.
Last week, however, I was on a camping trip and an Israeli man taught me the tips and tricks to making incredible baba ganoush, and it changed my feelings toward it entirely. Baba ganoush is amazing, and you can make it yourself quite easily! Here’s how:
First, wrap eggplants into tin foil. Easy.
Second, also wrap a bunch of peeled garlic into tin foil with a little bit of olive oil dribbled over it.
Make sure these packages are wrapped up good. Put them in the oven. I don’t think it really matters how hot the oven is, just that it is hot. On the camping trip, we just put them right in the center of the campfire. The garlic doesn’t take quite as long as the eggplants, but the goal for both is a high mush factor. When you think they’re really mushy, leave them in for a little longer. The eggplant should be 100% pulp like.
See what a beautiful gold color that is? See how mushy they look. Yummy. The same should be said of the eggplant:
This is where the surgery comes in. With your scalpel of choice, cut the head of the eggplant (left). Forget about this part. Then take the scalpel and cut a slit down the middle of the eggplant for the entire length, then pull it open so. Scrape the knife against the skin. Seperate the goop entirely from the skin. It involves careful scraping, prodding, pulling etc. The goop is somewhat fibrous, so run the scalpel through it a bunch of times to make the mashing later on easier.
Put it in your mixing bowl with the mushy garlic. Also add: salt, pepper, lemon juice, chopped parsley and a couple scoops of store bought tahini (maybe I’ll try making this sometime):
Mix everything up with a fork (disregard the spoon in the photo, a fork will work much better). Drizzle a little olive oil across the top and that’s it! Bomb baba ganoush, very easy, very impressive. Enjoy it!
Aaron Strick is a Masa participant studying at the University of Haifa, one of Masa Israel’s 160 programs.
