Baba Ganush

Back in March during Purim carnival I was in charge of Middle Eastern meal and Baba Ganush was apart of it. I was planning on making it from scratch, instead it turned into an adventure, where I had to search all stores for eggplant and ended up ordering it in bulk from Persian store. For some reason searching for eggplant left a mark on my mind, so when I walked in to my local oriental market and saw eggplants for 89 cents each, I had to buy a bunch and make something.
There are several spreads that are made from eggplants in Russia. As usually it is baked and pureed with something in addition to flavor it. Tahini was not very popular in may family and in fact not really known. When I was growing up usually garlic and mayonnaise or sour cream were added to flavor the cooked eggplant.

I learned to make Baba Gaush in the States and it is simple but takes time.
Eggplant is sliced in half and liberally salted, then allowed to rest to release the juice for up to 30 min. Then he juice is rinsed off and eggplant is roasted in the oven for about an hour at 375F. Once it is ready it is cleaned from skin before it is placed in food processor where it's pulsed and pureed with the rest of the ingredients.


3 medium eggplants
garlic about 5-6 cloves
parsley about 12 sprigs
1/2 c tahini
1/2 lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper
This is a great spread with pita, or crackers and goes great on sandwiches.