Summer

Mama Ghanoush

January 20, 2011
4.5
4 Ratings
  • Prep time 30 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • Makes Enough to feed one or more
Author Notes

If Baba Ghanoush is 'hot', this roasted version is 'hotter'! It is easy to make and tastes a 100 times better than any store-bought variety. I love roasting a whole batch of aubergines at a time, and then keeping them in the fridge, for up to two weeks. This way I can quickly make a fresh dip, sauce or soup! - Kitchen Butterfly —Kitchen Butterfly

Test Kitchen Notes

I made a double batch of Mama Ghanoush and served it at my niece’s baby shower. This recipe starts out with toasting cumin seeds and roasting garlic and eggplant so you KNOW you are going down a good path. I appreciate Kitchen Butterfly’s recommendation to add the tahini and lemon a bit at a time, and suit your own taste. I loved the flavors all blended. I used Aleppo pepper at the end and drizzled it with green lemon oil from Olivier’s and Co. and served it with lentil chips. Do watch the eggplant and garlic – mine was actually done in about 40 minutes, and I cremated my first round of garlic which was fine, I just made more while the eggplant cooled. Thirty-five thumbs UP from the crowd, including 2-year-old twins who ate quite a bit before switching to cupcakes!!! —aargersi

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 large aubergine
  • 1 cinnamon quill (optional)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
  • Salt to taste
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 - 1/3 cup of tahini, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon pan-roasted cumin seeds, crushed
  • Aleppo pepper or cayenne, to taste
  • Finely chopped parsley or cilantro leaves, to garnish
  • Olive oil, to taste
Directions
  1. Using a fork, pierce the skin of the aubergine all over. Poke the cinnamon quill into one end and roast in the centre of a an oven set to the highest (mine was at 250 deg C), along with the cloves of unpeeled garlic. Depending on the size of your aubergines, you might roast for 20 or more minutes, until the aubergine is soft and the skin turns brown.
  2. Remove from the oven once soft and set aside till cool enough to handle. Prepare your food processor. Once cool, remove and discard the cinnamon quill. Then cut the soft aubergine open and gently scoop out the flesh, being careful with the skin.
  3. Put the scooped out aubergine insides into the food processor, along with a pinch of salt, half of the lemon juice, half of the tahini, the garlic cloves and the cumin seeds. Blitz. Then add some olive oil till a thick puree is formed. Taste and adjust with the lemon, tahini and seasoning and blitz to get a smooth, soft dip.
  4. Once ready, adjust heat level if necessary by stirring in some aleppo pepper or cayenne. Garnish with parsley or coriander (or both), to serve. Enjoy with pita chips or soft pide!

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Kitchen Butterfly
    Kitchen Butterfly
  • aargersi
    aargersi
  • MamaDropes
    MamaDropes
I love food and I'm interested in making space for little-heard voices, as well as celebrating Nigerian cuisine in its entirety.

4 Reviews

MamaDropes September 18, 2011
I made this today and it turned out pretty well. The only problem I had was with the garlic. After 40 minutes of baking on such a high heat setting, it resembled charcoal. Next time, I'll remove it from the over much sooner.
 
Kitchen B. February 4, 2011
Aargersi, I loved your 'cremated' my garlic comment!
 
Kitchen B. February 3, 2011
Aargersi - thank you so much. So glad it met with approval :-). A great start to a long and busy weekend.
 
aargersi February 4, 2011
It was an absolute hit! A lot of the women there had never had baba ghanoush and are now converts - I was glad for the double batch of it. I will be making it again for sure!