By André de Mendonça
I hate aubergines! Except when I’m in Spain when their berenjenas rebozadas or battered aubergines are quite delicious or in a Middle Eastern restaurant where the Baba Ganoush is a must have.
Baba Ganoush is a dip that is quite easy to make and is absolutely delicious and vegan friendly.
Ingredients:
2 medium sized aubergines
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 level teaspoon of ground cumin
70 gms tahini (or smooth peanut butter if you must)
Salt
100mls Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Pinch of smoked paprika if you have it.
Small bunch of parsley chopped
Put the oven on to 180C and whilst it’s warming up slice the aubergines in two, lengthwise, and brush with olive oil. Mix together the rest of the ingredients except the olive oil and let them sit to develop flavour.
Bake the aubergines for 30 minutes until they are soft and squidgy. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, scoop out the flesh and drain through a sieve (you can keep the juice to adjust consistency later). Mash the flesh with a fork and mix in with the other ingredients. Add olive oil to taste and balance and adjust seasoning.
You can use a blender instead of mashing with a fork to get a smooth, hummus consistency. In fact, hummus is a pretty close sibling in terms of ingredients but not of taste!
I grant you, there are a few variables in this so you might have some adjusting to do. And it’s fair go say the aubergines are best done on a barbeque for a smokey flavour but its still a really tasty dish.
Great on toast, crackers, pitta, oatcakes, raw vegetables…