The most delicate eggplant salad: babaganoush. Recipe for your favorite Turkish snack

Anyone who has visited one of the Asian countries at least once has an idea of what babaganoush is. The recipe for this dish is familiar to every oriental cook. To fill the gap in their knowledge, young housewives can try to prepare this original dish using one of the recipes described below.

Flavorful snack

In the East and in many Mediterranean countries, every girl knows how to make babaganoush. The recipe for its preparation is passed down from mother to daughter, taking into account local traditions and personal taste preferences. Essentially, it is a snack in the form of a liquid paste or sauce that can be spread on bread or toast. There are many different options for preparing it. But they all must contain two main ingredients: eggplant and (tahini) paste. Each home prepares babaganoush differently. The recipe may include the following components: 2 eggplants, some greens (cilantro and parsley), two tablespoons of lemon juice and olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic, spices (salt, ground coriander and black pepper), black sesame seeds as decoration, and for tahini you need 100 grams of regular sesame seeds and 35 grams of vegetable oil.

In this case, it all starts with vegetables:

The washed eggplants should be placed on a baking sheet covered with parchment and baked in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about half an hour. During this time, the products should become soft enough for the knife to easily penetrate inside.
You can spend your free time making tahini. To do this, sesame seeds must be crushed in a blender and then mixed with oil.
remove the peel, and then grind with lemon juice into a puree, adding garlic.
Combine both prepared mixtures.

Before serving, place the “babaganoush” on a plate, pour generously of oil, sprinkle and decorate everything with herbs.

Original combination

Many African countries also love babaganoush. The recipe for its preparation has changed a little these days. In modern families, the following set of products is often used: for 2 eggplants, 2 pcs. bell pepper, 2 tablespoons of any yogurt, olive oil, juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of sesame seeds, salt, 3 cloves of garlic, ½ teaspoon each of coriander and cumin, black pepper and a bunch of parsley.

The cooking process looks like this:

Eggplants and peppers are baked over an open fire so that the flesh acquires a pleasant smoky aroma. To do this, you can put them on a wire rack in the oven or put them on the grill.
After 20 minutes, the products can already be taken out.
After this, you need to remove the peel from them, and then chop the insides of the eggplants with a knife, and cut the peppers into cubes.
Mix the ingredients, adding yogurt, lemon juice, herbs and garlic.
Mash the sesame seeds in a mortar and then season with salt, cumin, pepper and oil.

Having combined the prepared compositions, you need to let the mixture stand for a while.

Unusual option

For thrill-seekers, we can offer a not quite standard version of “babaganoush” pasta. A recipe with a photo will be especially useful in this case - it will help control every stage of the process.

To work you will need the following components:

for 4 tomatoes, 2 eggplants, 3 cloves of garlic, half a chili pepper, 3 tablespoons of thick yogurt and lemon juice, a bunch of herbs (basil, dill, parsley) and 5 tablespoons of olive oil.

The work takes place in several stages:

First, vegetables need to be baked in the oven for 20 minutes, while greasing them with vegetable oil. If desired, you can use the microwave. At the same time, the cooking time will be noticeably reduced. It will take no more than 9 minutes. After cooling, the products will need to be completely peeled.
First, grind the washed greens in a blender with garlic.
Then add all the other ingredients one by one. Eggplants and peppers should be added last.
It is better to serve the finished product on the table in a wide plate, pouring it with yogurt or butter.

This appetizer will be a great addition to any meat. Although local residents are accustomed to eating it mainly with bread (lavash).

Popular method

In Australia they also make babaganoush from eggplant. The recipe, however, is slightly different from the one used by oriental cooks. Here it is customary to take as starting ingredients:

for 1 large eggplant, half a clove of garlic, one and a half tablespoons of vegetable oil, a quarter teaspoon of caraway powder, the juice of 1/3 of a medium lemon, a tablespoon of ready-made tahini paste, a little onion (or parsley) and pomegranate seeds.

The famous snack is prepared using the usual technology:

First, generously lubricate it with oil. After this, it is placed on a wire rack and left to cool, making a large cut with a knife.
All components are connected together. According to the rules, this should be done with a fork, but now housewives are increasingly using a blender. First take eggplant, tahini, garlic, cumin and lemon juice. After this, spices and herbs are added. The oil is usually poured directly into the plate on top of the finished mass.

For decoration, chopped herbs and quartered pomegranate seeds are used. This dish looks very picturesque on the table.

The popular babaganoush is prepared somewhat differently according to David Leibovitz's recipe. The famous cookbook author uses an unusual combination of ingredients.

For 2 medium-sized eggplants, he takes the same amount of chili pepper and cloves of garlic, the juice of one small lemon, a pinch of cumin, salt, and one and a half tablespoons of sesame paste and olive oil.

The method by which the appetizer is prepared is not much different from the previous options:

First of all, washed and dried eggplants are baked in the oven for half an hour. They must first be pricked in several places with a fork.
While baking, tahini needs to be mixed separately with lemon juice. It is necessary to achieve such a concentration that both components simply complement each other.
Separately, crush the cumin with salt, garlic and chili pepper in a mortar.
Combine both mixtures and then add oil and finely chopped mint.
Grind the eggplant pulp with a fork, and then combine all the ingredients.

The dish is served at the table in a salad bowl and eaten with fresh pita bread.

Delicate sauce

Some experts consider the popular dish not a snack, but just a sauce, which is also called “babaganoush”. The recipe for this product can be simplified as much as possible. To work, you only need eggplant, yogurt, garlic, tahini paste, salt and lemon juice.

The whole process consists of two stages:

First, the eggplants are baked on a baking sheet in the oven for 50 minutes. They must first be cut into pieces. After this, the products should cool naturally. This will take about 15 minutes.
Place all ingredients into a food processor and mix until they turn into a plastic, homogeneous mass.

Place the finished sauce on a plate and then garnish with chopped parsley and ground red pepper. It is customary to serve toast along with the aromatic pasta. In principle, it can also be spread on fresh bread. Here everyone chooses the most convenient method of use for themselves.

Traditional option

In Turkey, there is a slightly different idea of preparing babaganoush pasta. The classic recipe used by local chefs calls for the following essential ingredients.

For 2 large eggplants you need 40 milliliters of olive oil, 75 grams of peeled walnuts, a little salt, 30 milliliters of lemon juice and a glass of yogurt.

The popular snack is prepared as follows:

First, fresh eggplants need to be grilled. They should become softer and acquire a slight smoky flavor. If you don’t have such a device in your home, you can simply use the oven. To prevent vegetables from exploding when heated, they must first be pierced with a knife or fork.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out the pulp from the cooled vegetables and then mix it with the prepared ingredients.
For flavor, you can add a little mayonnaise and chopped cilantro to the paste.

Before serving, all that remains is to decorate the finished product with nuts. While eating, they will pleasantly complement the already quite delicate taste of the original snack. This is optional, but can be used as an option.

Preparation time: 55 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serving:

07.05.2015

Baba Ganoush or Babaganoush, eggplant appetizer - a delicious Middle Eastern spread with eggplant, eggplant hummus, which uses baked eggplant instead of chickpeas. The dish babaganoush, whose calorie content is extremely low, can be called dietary, so you can eat it in large quantities without harming your figure. I have already talked once about the similar, but still completely different tasting Israeli dish Hatzilim, the recipe for which can be read in my recipe (be sure to check it out, eggplant lovers will definitely love it!). And I’ll tell you how to make a classic eggplant babaganoush right now!

Ingredients

eggplants - 800 gr
sesame paste tahini- 100 g (recipe link below)
lemon - 1 pc.
garlic- 1 clove
olive oil- 30 ml

Cooking method

are very diverse, so a lot of them are presented on my blog, you can look through them. After going through them, you will understand exactly how to cook eggplant in different ways. But now we are talking about one very tasty method called Baba Ganoush or Babaganush, an eggplant appetizer. Let's start by preparing the ingredients. We turn on the oven in advance at 200-220 degrees (depending on the oven!) so that it has time to warm up. Wash the eggplants, cut them in half, make shallow cuts in the slices with a knife in the form of a diamond-shaped mesh and place them flesh-side up on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Salt and place in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the baked eggplants are soft. If you want to speed up the process, you can cut the eggplants into thin strips and bake in the same way until soft, placing each eggplant leaf separately. By the way, during this time you can prepare tahini sesame paste very quickly and with just two ingredients. The preparation is described in the recipe . It's time to peel the eggplants. How to peel eggplants quickly and effortlessly? I’ll tell you :) Place in a deep container and seal with cling film. Leave for 10 minutes - this will make it easier to peel the eggplants without losing the pulp. After the required time, remove the film and peel the eggplants from the hard skin. Many people wonder whether it is necessary to peel eggplants. I will say that cooking eggplants depends on their quality. The skin of an eggplant can sometimes be quite hard, so eggplants need to be peeled exactly when the skin is truly impossible to chew. If the skin is soft, you don’t have to remove it. Now peel the garlic and add it to the eggplants. , I highly recommend reading and looking at the photos, you’ve never seen anything like this before! Add tahini sesame paste to eggplants with garlic, squeeze half a lemon, add olive oil, salt and pepper. We take out the blender and mix everything thoroughly until it has a homogeneous consistency. Taste the babaganoush and add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Beat the eggplant paste again. Baba Ganoush or Babaganoush, eggplant appetizer is ready to eat. You can spread it on toast, you can eat it with

Classic Mediterranean eggplant babaganoush. A kind of dip sauce for dipping pita bread, toast, slices of fresh cucumbers or chips into it. Simply bake the fruit and rub the pulp with tahini, garlic and olive oil.

Babaganoush is a popular mashed eggplant snack in Arab countries and throughout the Middle East. Sometimes it is made with fried bell peppers and added to it. This dip sauce, like our eggplant caviar, has many different recipes. Each family prepares it differently, some add sugar, others more lemon juice or tahini. There are endless variations.

To prepare this dish, you need to fry the blue ones, take raw or baked garlic, grind them into a paste, add tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Sesame paste can now be bought in many supermarkets, but you can try. Just prepare it from light seeds. Taste and add ingredients to suit your taste palette.

See also:

Eggplant Babaganush recipe

You can puree the vegetables for the babaganoush in a food processor, but be careful not to make the sauce too smooth, leaving some pastoral texture to the blue ones.

Ingredients:

1-2 eggplants, total 800 grams.
2-3 tablespoons sesame tahini paste.
2 cloves of garlic.
Juice of one lemon.
1 teaspoon ground cumin.
Salt - to taste.
Hot pepper - to taste.
A bunch of parsley.

Additional equipment:

Kitchen tongs.
Aluminum foil.
Baking tray or grill.

Cooking method:

Bake the eggplants in the oven...

Preheat the oven to 205-210°C.
Rinse and dry the blue ones with paper towels, cut them lengthwise into two halves and pierce the skin with a fork in several places. Lightly coat the incisions with olive oil. Place the eggplants cut sides down on a baking sheet. When I bake them, I always put foil or baking paper on a baking sheet to make cleaning easier.

Place the sheet of vegetables in the oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes until they are tender.
Remove the blue ones from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.

...or grill them

Preheat grill to high temperature.
Wash the eggplants and dry them with paper towels. Pierce the peel in several places with a fork. Brush the vegetables with olive oil and place them on the grill grate.
Fry the vegetables; when the bottom side begins to char a little, turn them over with tongs. In this way, fry the vegetables on all sides. Remove the charred fruit from the grill and place it in a bag. Tie the bag and let the blue ones steam in it for 20 minutes.

Remove the pulp from the eggplant and mash it with a fork.

Use a teaspoon to scoop out the pulp from the roasted vegetables and place it in a cup.

Using a fork, grind the pulp to a smooth paste, add finely chopped garlic, two tablespoons of olive oil, cumin, tahini and lemon juice. Season with salt and add a little cayenne pepper. Mix the sauce thoroughly.

You can puree the eggplant pulp and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor, just be careful not to overdo it and make the mixture too smooth.

How to serve babaganoush.

Cool the babaganoush to room temperature, taste and add lemon juice, salt or hot pepper if necessary. Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve with pita bread, crackers, toast, sliced baguette, celery and fresh cucumber slices.

Bon appetit!

More recipes with eggplants on our website:

If you love eggplant, you will love this recipe. When I fry eggplant using this recipe, I always get perfect golden pieces. The only downside is that during the first minute after you put the eggplants in the frying pan, the hot oil may splatter a little on you, so you should put on an apron before cooking.

How to cook eggplant caviar? - Just! All you need to do is bake the eggplant and roast the peppers, add garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, season with a little pepper and salt, and puree in a blender.

This wonderful eggplant appetizer comes from the Middle East and is especially loved by Egyptians and Turks.

Babaganush is a delicate eggplant puree, well flavored with tahini and oriental spices with the addition of garlic and lemon juice, which gives the dish a special piquancy. Babaganush is a little similar to our eggplant caviar, but still has a brighter and more unusual taste.

Description of eggplant dish

The dish is very popular in Arab countries; it is even often called Arabic pate. Babaganush can be served as a sauce, a separate dish or as an appetizer.

That is why baba ganoush will be appreciated by both vegetarians and meat eaters, because you can simply eat it with bread, or you can enjoy the wonderful combination of this dish with meat.

To make the oriental appetizer even tastier, you should cook it on the grill. The light smoky aroma will add a special interesting taste to the dish.

Classic salad recipe

Ingredients

In general, the amount of each ingredient is added to babaganoush based on individual taste preferences; this recipe shows standard proportions.

Main ingredients for 5 servings:

eggplant – 2-3 pcs;
garlic – 1 clove;
zira – 1 tsp;
lemon – 1 piece;
olive oil – 3 tbsp;
tahini (sesame paste) – 4 tbsp;
salt to taste;
hot red pepper;
greens to taste.

For decoration:

a couple of sprigs of cilantro;
pomegranate seeds.

Preparing the snack will take you about 30-40 minutes. The difficulty level of cooking the dish is medium.

Of course, it is better to cook this dish on a grill, but if this is not possible, an oven or microwave will do, and some housewives cook eggplants directly over a gas stove, for the effect of an open fire.

Wash the eggplants well, make small holes with a fork from which steam will escape.
Attention! Eggplants must be young.
Grill until skin is charred. When ready, it should easily release from the pulp. Turn the eggplants 3-4 times while cooking.
To check the eggplant's readiness, you need to slowly pierce it with a fork or knife. If you feel that the inside of the vegetable is soft and a knife can easily go into it, then the eggplant is ready.
Cool the eggplants, peel them, or carefully remove the pulp with a spoon, remove the seeds, then chop the pulp very finely with a knife, almost until it becomes puree. You should not grind the pulp with a blender; there should be small pieces of eggplant in the appetizer. This has a certain zest to the dish.
Add finely chopped or crushed garlic to the resulting mass.
Add tahini, spices, lemon juice (to taste), salt and herbs and mix thoroughly. The consistency of the mass should resemble mayonnaise.
Let the pasta cool, place in a bowl and decorate the dish.

After cooking, it is advisable to let the dish sit for about an hour.

Before serving, you can pour 1 tablespoon of olive or any other oil over the babaganoush and stir.

You can decorate by sprinkling with pomegranate seeds, and top with a sprig of cilantro, thyme or parsley.

Babaganush is also often decorated with olives, pickled cucumbers, bell peppers and walnuts.

Baba ganoush is served with fresh warm lavash or pita bread. You can simply spread it on bread, or present it with a crispy, aromatic baguette.

It all depends on your preferences. When cooking outdoors, babaganoush is used as a barbecue sauce and served with grilled vegetables.

If you are interested in healthy food, then you should pay attention to puree soups, which can be prepared from all sorts of products: from or, from, with, from and even from.

Photo

The babaganoush is clearly visible in the photo below:

Useful video

How to make babaganoush from eggplant, watch the video: