BABA GANOUSH

This is a dip or a side dish.  Origin is Arabic but used widely in most of the Middle Eastern countries.  I usually buy it at the store.  I thought I would try and make my own this time.   It tastes quite different than the store bought version because store bought versions have mayo in it.  So, it is really not the real thing.  I liked the original version because I like eggplants and you can taste it better.  I also tried another variation (I added garlic yogurt sauce) which tasted awesome too.  My kids, on the other hand ,preffered the store bought version with mayonnaise which I will publish later.

If you are serving this dish as a dip, use pieces of toasted Pita breads or crackers.  If you are using it as a side dish, try it with beef or lamb.

1 large egg plant

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1.5 tablespoon Tahini (sesame paste)

1.5 tablespoon olive oil

salt, pepper, paprika
Optional: 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1 crushed garlic

• Ideally this recipe should have the nice smell of barbecued on the eggplants.  If you can prepare the eggplants on the barbeque.  Wash and make a few slits on the eggplants and barbeque until they are soft 
• Otherwise, preheat a toaster oven (normal oven will do as well) to 400 degrees.
• Wash and cut the eggplant in half.  Sprinkle a bit of olive oil on the eggplants, wrap then in tin foil and cook for approx. 1 hour (until eggplant is soft)
• Let the eggplant cool covered.  Then scoop out the insides.
• Crush garlic
• Add all of the ingredients together in a food processor and get a creamy mixture
• Taste to see if you would like to add more salt or any other spices like cumin or hot red peppers
• For another variation, you can optionally add 1/2 cup of yogurt with another addition of garlic
• Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving