A Southern Grace: ba-ba-ba ba-ba ghanoush

July 24, 2008

ba-ba-ba ba-ba ghanoush

Yum

(belted out to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann", obviously)


I think most of us are familiar with the food guru that is Elise of Simply Recipes. None of her recipes have ever disappointed me or my fellow eaters. One day long ago I came across her version of baba ghanoush (a Middle Eastern delight combining roasted eggplant, nutty tahini, and amazing spices to form one heck of a dip) and I was confident that it would be a winner, so into the black hole of saved recipes it went.


(I like big butts.)

Fast forward a few months. I found myself with an eggplant and a craving for a spicy dip other than guacamole (which always seems to be present in my fridge). Finally, out of my abyss of an archive came Elise's recipe.

Of course, I couldn't help myself--I did some minor tweaking. I bumped up the cumin, one of my favorite spices, to 1 teaspoon and, although it's not pictured, there ended up being way more than 1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro scattered on top. The end result was magnificent--creamy and smoky and perfectly zippy--and I found myself once again wishing for some homemade pita bread.


Because I've had my eye on this recipe for many moons, I'm submitting it to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes event.


One bookmarked recipe down, approximately 295,923,524 to go.

43 comments:

Emily said...

I've never made baba ghanoush before. It looks delicious!
And I love the Beach Boys.

The Blonde Duck said...

It looks really cool! What kind of flavor does it have?

Anonymous said...

Mmm baba Ganoush! Have you tried the greek eggplant dip? That's also gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

mmmmm i love baba ghanoush! i will have to try this recipe because the two times i have made it previous it was too tahini-y. also, i am looking for apple cinnamony goodness recipes - seek my blog woman.

crunchLin said...

i love dips of all sort! yummm and with cumin! This seems so wonderfully delish!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

I've actually never had the ghanoush before either...and I so under use egg plant. I'll have to try this one out--it looks (and sounds) great!

Veronica said...

I've never tasted baba ghanoush. Your first picture is so "dip-able" I really want to try it now.

Mary said...

I LOVE baba ghanoush. But I eat it with a spoon as a side dish. Don't get me wrong, it's excellent as a dip too. :)
Yours looks terrific!

Katie B. said...

I think you can never have an excessive amount of cilantro. I once even considered dabbing some behind my ears. I didn't, but I thought about it.

Bunny said...

i've never had this either, i live a sheltered life! my husband loves spicy so i'm gonna try this.
thanks grace!

Anonymous said...

Hahaha. You always make me chuckle. Your ghanoush looks yummy.

Leslie said...

Looks pretty..but too bad I am not a fan of eggplant!!!
For the trophy for my acceptance speech..I was really torn between the masher and a whisk!LOL

Sharon said...

Delicious! I end up adding copious amounts of cilantro to nearly everyting. Ok, not brownies, but just about everything else.

Chef Jeena said...

Looks so delicious Grace as always. :-)

Anonymous said...

baba ghanoush is one of my absolute favorite treats. I like the way you messed with the recipe. Eggplant and smokiness are perfect together.

Anonymous said...

I love this but the hubby is allergic to eggplant so I don't get to enjoy it as much as I'd like...boo-hoo! This is yum-o looking!

Anonymous said...

Wow, now I'm craving baba ghanoush... I'll have to try this for lunch to go with the salami and feta cheese I was planning on having. AND, I need to buy some eggplant, uh, plants to stick in the garden.

Vera said...

Grace, eggplant is my all time favorite vegetable! Your baba ghanoush looks delicious, makes me want some.

Melanie said...

Wow! I'm impressed - I've always wanted to make baba ghanoush - but I'm scared...it looks delicious!

test it comm said...

That baba ghanoush looks great! I am looking forward to the eggplants and baba ghanoush will be one of the first things that I make with them.

Sophie said...

I like the dip aspect of this...it'd make a fun side dish too...must try! My palate is so narrow, it's embarrassing -- keep the cool recipes comin'! :D

Helene said...

Gosh that makes me so hungry :)

Paula said...

Yummmm! Baba ghanoush is so good! I can hardly wait to harvest the eggplant in my garden!

Anonymous said...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who has a ton of recipes bookmarked. I think I even have this one bookmarked!

Lore said...

Baba ghanouj sure looks like a dish called eggplant salad (without the tahini)around here although its more of a dip than a salad and lacks this great kick of extra flavour.

giz said...

Love middle eastern food. Baba Ghanoush is a favourite and I'm embarassed to admit I've never made it at home. I usually just pick it up on impulse in a mid sized container. I really should stop being so lazy. Yours looks seriously good.

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is one of my daughter's favorite foods in the whole wide world. Passing this along to her. Good job Grace.

Elle said...

I've never made this at home! Must. try. it. soon!

LyB said...

I love eggplant, but I've never tried this dip! Now it's on my "to try" list! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I love babaganoush a lot. Yum yum!

Cakespy said...

I used to work at a middle eastern restaurant, and you should have heard all of the exotic and interesting ways people tried to pronounce babaganoush. My favorite one was the very frenchie-sounding "Baba - gah- noo-eee" . Oo la la!

It looks fantastic with the extra cumin!

Anonymous said...

Yum! This looks so great! Just discovered your blog-it's fantastic!

Jaime said...

you definitely need to make some pita bread to enjoy w/this :)

Anonymous said...

This looks great. And the extra cilantro on top is sooo necessary!

the Aspirant Abecedarian said...

Baba Ghanoush has always intimidated me. Maybe it's the name, maybe it's the use of eggplant...I don't know, but you've inspired me to give it a try. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

That looks creamy and delicious - I like the extra spicy version too. You and the home-made pita, so ambitious!

Abitofafoodie said...

I love this smoky dip but haven't ever made it myself before. Couple of aubergines in the fridge though, so perhaps the time has come!

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

Cumin is my favorite spice! Giving you a high five for upping the cumin!

Ann said...

Oh girl! I LOVE Baba and, actually, ALL things eggplant. There is something "smoky" about it that I just love. Oh yum.

Anonymous said...

Your bookmarked list is down to just about the same as mine. By the time we are in our second lives, we'll be through with them all!

Deborah said...

I've never made baba ghanoush before, but now I'm wanting some!!

Ruth Strong said...

Great bookmarked recipe! Sounds like a great dip.

Thanks for sending this over for the round up!

Neen said...

This sounds fabulous. Amen sister, for bumping up the cumin (I find myself adding cumin to everything these days). Oh and thanks for the heads up that the title is to the Tune of Barbara Ann. Definitely needed that insight, but then laughed heartily.