Eggplant also known as brinjal or aubergine is a meaty vegetable that is pretty bland on its own. It can’t be eaten raw. However, it’s very delicious when cooked, or pickled. It can be cooked in so many different ways from- frying, to baking, roasting, BBQing, salting into pickle, making into curries, chutneys, sauces, spreads and dips.
Eggplant is not know to have numerous nutritional micro or macro content, but the flesh is porous so it absorbs flavours, oils and spices very well making it a very versatile vegetable to cook with in many different cuisines.
In India, eggplant is cooked in so many different ways depending on the region. The Indian eggplant is round, small and very meaty and is indigenous to the Indian sub-continent. It’s made into pickles, chutneys, sauces, deep fried into chips, made into different kinds of curries and side dishes and eaten with rice and flat bread. Every single Indian eggplant dish I have tasted I love, mainly because of all the spices, herbs and tomatoes it’s slow cooked in. I also love how the middle eastern countries cook eggplant . The east Asian’s preparation of eggplant is absolutely delicious – mainly Malaysian and Indonesian. When I lived in Indonesia, I learnt all the different ways to cook eggplant. I will share some Indonesian recipes, as and when I get a chance. Finally I have to admit, I love Italian food that has eggplant in it. Basically I LOVE eggplant, any which way and in any cuisine 🙂
When cooking eggplant, always pick firm eggplants with shinny skin. I like the dark purple eggplants vs the Chinese eggplants when making Baba Ganoush.
The recipe I share with you below is a smoky, creamy, silky delicious eggplant dip made with only 6 ingredients. I like roasting the eggplants over open flame to get a smoky taste and then blending all the ingredients to get a smooth, silky dip.
This is a great recipe to make ahead of time and have on hand to make sandwiches and wraps, or to eat with cut veggies and pita.
Watch the video below, to see how simple it is to make this home-made eggplant dip. I guarantee, you will never buy store bought Baba Ganoush again.
Vitamix Baba Ganoush: Roasted Eggplant Dip & Spread
Equipment
- 1 Vitamix Blender
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants (firm with shinny skin is prefered)
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lemon (juice from 1 lemon)
- 1 clove garlic (add more if you like a very strong garlic taste)
- 1 tsp salt (add salt as per your taste)
Toppings
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder or paprika (optional)
Instructions
- Wash eggplants and wipe, roast eggplants on open flame or in the oven (at 400 degrees fahrenheit for 20 minutes or so) or over a BBQ untill your eggplant is soft on all sides and skin is charred but not burnt
- Place eggplants in a bowl and cover, this allows for easy removal of the charred eggplant skin. Once eggplants are cooled, remove charred skin and slighlty mash with a fork
- To a blender container, add your roasted eggplant, tahini paste, olive oil, raw garlic and salt to taste. Blend on high speed, till silky smooth
- Turn into a bowl and top with whatever you like. I'm using pomegranate seeds and chilli powder. You can also use finel chopped parsley
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and serve with pita bread, raw veggies, on sandwitches, wraps and more