BABA GANOUSH | how to make baba ganoush (roasted eggplant dip)

After last week's recipe for falafel flatbread, which I'm so happy that you guys loved, I was inundated with requests for one of the toppings, and that's baba ghanoush. Baba ghanoush is a delicious Middle Eastern appetizer, and it's made from just five simple ingredients, and that includes roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. It's a simple, healthy recipe, but if you talk to 10 people from the Middle East, you're probably gonna get 10 different variations on this recipe. And that's totally fine, as you can tweak it to your personal preference and add additional spices like cumin and paprika, or add a little bit more or a little bit less of lemon juice and tahini. But for me, after spending quite a bit of time in the Middle East and eating plenty of baba ghanoush, I realized that I like to keep it simple and let the deep, smoky flavor of the roasted eggplant shine through. So that's what I am sharing with you today. Let's get started. There are several ways you can make baba ghanoush, including an outdoor grill, your gas stovetop, and an oven. I'll show you the gas stovetop method today, and to get started, you'll need two eggplant with a total weight of about 2 1⁄2 pounds. Mine are a bit bigger and heavier today, but if you have smaller eggplant, you can use three of them. Turn your stovetop to medium-high heat and lay your eggplant on top. What you wanna do is completely char the outside of the eggplant as you would on a gas grill. Now, I'll be honest, this method does produce a bit of a mess on your stovetop, and you can always lay aluminum foil around the burner to catch some of the mess. But trust me, it's worth it for the deep, smoky flavor. An outdoor grill is the ideal method for making baba ghanoush, but the stovetop is a great second option. I'm not a huge fan of using an oven as it produces the least smoky flavor, and that's what baba ghanoush is all about. Although I do have a tip on the recipe blog post for you if you do decide to use an oven. So you'll cook the eggplant for about three to four minutes on each side for about 15 minutes total or until it's completely charred and starts to deflate. And you can use tongs to move it around to make sure all of the sides and bottom get properly cooked. Someone on my travels once gave me a tip, and it's this. If you think the eggplant is done, it's really not, and you still need to cook it longer. So I'm sharing that advice with you today. Once it's fully charred, transfer the eggplant to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. This will help to keep in all that delicious, smoky flavor while the eggplant cools. Then you can get started on your second eggplant and do this process all over again. I like to do one eggplant after the other, so I only have one element to clean, and it's less likely to set off the smoke detector in my apartment, but you could, of course, cook both eggplants simultaneously on two elements. Just make sure you never leave the stove and you keep a close eye on them the entire time. After the second eggplant is completely charred, transfer it to the bowl and let it cool as well. When you remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, you'll notice liquid has pooled on the bottom. That's excess liquid from the eggplant, and that's what we want so that our baba ghanoush isn't watery. Next, we need to get the flesh out of the eggplant, and there's two methods to do that. The first is to cut it in half with a knife and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. You wanna get as much flesh out as possible and just set it to the side on your cutting board. The second method is to simply peel off all of the charred skin. This method can be a bit messier, but it does ensure we keep as much flesh as possible, including all of those dark brown, smoky bits. Once all of the skin is removed, roughly chop the eggplant. Eggplant has long, fibrous bits, and they can get a bit stringy in the baba ghanoush, but a quick chop with a knife takes care of that. Transfer the eggplant to a bowl and add three tablespoons of tahini, and this is my homemade tahini, which I have a separate video for. To that, add two tablespoons of olive oil, the juice from one lemon, one minced garlic clove, and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Then use a fork to mash and stir it all together, breaking down the eggplant until you have a creamy but textured dip. Some people like to use a food processor to blend it all together, but I prefer a more authentic, slightly chunky texture. And this is what it should look like when it's done. I also like to add a teaspoon or so of chopped parsley and stir it in, but you can simply garnish with parsley as well. Pour the baba ghanoush into a serving bowl, give it a swoosh with a spoon, and drizzle a little extra olive oil on top before garnishing with more parsley. And that's how easy it is to make a deliciously smoky and highly addictive baba ghanoush. I hope you guys enjoyed this video, and if you did, remember to give it a thumbs up and share it with your family and friends, and I will see you again in the next video.