Vegan Recipes - Side Dishes

Baba Ghanoush

By Brian Igarta

The Orient brings us many wonders of the culture and foods. A simple one to prepare and probably everyones favorite, is Baba Ghanoush.

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (round)
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic (fine chop)
1 pinch cumin (ground)
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil
1-1/2 teaspoons Italian parsley
1 teaspoons cilantro
2 tablespoons tomato (fine dice- flesh only, remove seeds)
salt, to taste

Directions:
Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill. Preheat an oven to 375°F. Fork the eggplant in several places and place on the grill rack 4 to 5 inches over the fire. Grill, turning frequently, until the skin blackens and blisters and the flesh just begins to feel soft, 10 to 15 minutes.

Next place the eggplant to a baking sheet and bake until very soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, peel and discard the skin. Place the eggplant in a bowl. Mash the eggplant to a paste. Add the 1/4 cup tahini, the garlic, the 1/4 cup lemon juice and the cumin and mix well. Season with salt, then adjust flavor-depending on size of eggplant. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and spread with the back of a spoon to form a shallow well. Drizzle the flaxseed oil over the top and sprinkle parsley and cilantro, and diced tomato. Then fold everything in together.

When preparing this recipe, the key is to give the eggplant that smoky roasted flavor, and if a charcoal grill is no where to be found here are some hints we used to do in the kitchen. We would most of the time just place it over a gas stove, lay a wire rack over it, and broil on the stove. If thats not available, I have from time to time used a propane gas torch, we would use it for browning sugar, its a little bit more challenging this way, but can be done.

Try adding this to hummus.

Reprinted from The Maui Vegetarian.

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