Phoebe ChungBaba Ghanoush is a signature Arabic dipping sauce with hummus. My husband, who is Jewish, prefers hummus, but I prefer baba ganush.
It is easy to make and the ingredients are simple. Plus, it’s great as a very healthy snack or appetizer.
My husband is Jewish, so I became as familiar with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food as Korean food.
Sometimes when my husband and I go out to the Central side of Hong Kong, there is a Lebanese restaurant that we often stop by.
Those of you who live in Hong Kong probably know. It is a Lebanese restaurant and bar called ‘Beirut’.
For lunch we always have falafel wraps or shawarma, dipping sauce and pita bread. It’s really delicious.
The sLet’s go back to the story of Baba Ghanush. Baba Ghanush.
What is Baba Ghanush?
Baba Ghanoush is a dipping sauce in appetizer courses called mezza in Arabic food, and is eaten with flat Arabic bread such as pita bread.
Besides bread, many people also eat crackers, chips, and vegetables that are good for dipping.
If you look at the etymology of Baba Ghanoush, Baba means father, and ganoush (or ghanoush) means ‘pampered or spoiled’ and refers to a man who has been misguided.
In Arabic, it is also as a slang term for a handsome man.
There is a theory that the place where this food was first made was made in an inner chamber called a harem, where an Arab’s wife lived, where outsiders were not allowed to enter.
Among them, it is also called the food of the spoiled sultan because it seems to be the food that goes into the mezza course, and it is likely to be the boudoir of the rich or the imperial family.
This food that began in the Middle East, called the Levant, such as Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, which are located on the Mediterranean side, and spread to Turkey and North Africa as the production of eggplants continued to spread.
A major contributor to the spread of this dish is the migration of Jews.
It makes sense when you see it go into a common appetizer for Sephardic Jews far from the Middle East.
Baba Ghanush Ingredients
The main ingredients for Baba Ghanush are eggplants that are placed in an oven and cooked over a charcoal fire.
Add the tahini sauce you previously used for the hummus recipe.
Fresh lemon juice, garlic, and virgin olive oil are standard.
Add parsley and cumin.
Each family has different tastes, adding a little more lemon juice, more garlic, more tahini, more cumin, etc. Adjust the balance of each ingredient according to your taste and make the most suitable balance ratio.
Watch a 49-second video of how to make pita bread toast that goes well with baba ganouchh, hummus, or other dipping sauce that you can see in the photo before making baba ganouchh.
Delicious Baba Ghanush Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 eggplant 700g
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp tahini sauce
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- handful parsley
Instructions
- Wash the eggplant and roast it right over a gas fire. Grill until evenly browned on the outside.There will be a little burnt smell.
- When the outside is brown and darkened, put it in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and cook it completely in the microwave.Remove the cooked eggplant from the hot steam and wrap it again in plastic wrap utill cool.
- Put a frying pan over medium heat, cover 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and then cut 3 cloves of garlic in half and fry them. When it's golden brown, put it in a pan with oil and let it cool.
- When the eggplant cools down, peel it. Eggplants are slippery, so it's easy to make with kitchen paper.
- Put eggplant, fried garlic, oil, tahini sauce, salt, and parsley leaves in a blender and grind.
- Put it in a bowl, shape it like hummus, garnish with paprika or red pepper powder, and drizzle with olive oil.
