Here's my favorite way:
Put a couple of medium eggplants on the grill and leave them there until they're very soft and collapsed. You could do it in the oven too, but I like the smoky flavor the grill gives the eggplants.Scoop out the inside pulp and juices of the eggplants and place in a blender or food processor. Add 1/2 cup tahini, 1 clove garlic, juice of 1 lemon, salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Blend until smooth. Or, if you don't like smooth bab ghannouj you can just mash the ingredients together. I like to serve it with a sprinkle of smoked paprika on top.

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beyondcelery added over 1 year ago

erinbdm is spot on (though I blend a hefty amount of parsley into mine as well). I'd just like to add that the eggplant takes about 1 hour on the grill to blacken. I like to put it on there after I'm done barbecuing everything else, cover it, and turn it over at the half hour. The cooling grill really gets all the smoky flavor into the flesh of the eggplant. You want it nearly all black on the outside before you take it off. Also, you can grill up a bunch of eggplants near the end of summer, scoop out their flesh, and freeze it. The thawed flesh is just as smoky and wonderful in middle-of-winter babaganoush as it is at the end of summer. Possibly more delicious, since it tastes of summer!

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Good advice above. You really want to burn the heck out of the skin!!! 90-120 minutes is not out of line. The Egyptians use a lot of tehina, a cup or two per kg of eggplant. The Lebanese might use half that, but a lot more garlic.

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I made this one last weekend. The technique from Alton Brown is killer!

http://seabirdskitchen...

I only roasted mine for about 45 minutes, but the grill was very hot. There was plenty of smokiness. I may try doing it longer based on the above suggestions though

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Sam1148 added over 1 year ago

I use the Japanese eggplants. They have less bitterness and less seeds--but also less 'meat'.

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susan g added over 1 year ago

Here's a recipe that's a departure from the classic:
http://verdantkitchen.wordpress...
The blog is from Anitalectric of food52. She has some interesting twists!

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Anita is a vegan pastry chef & founder of Electric Blue Baking Co. in Brooklyn.

added over 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing my blog, susan g! My favorite part is the crispy eggplant skin, which most recipes just toss out. Check out that link for the recipe, janeez. It's an easy one!

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