{Whole30} Baba Ganoush with Roasted Garlic
This version of middle-eastern eggplant dip is made with roasted garlic which gives a hint of sweetness to the dip. Perfect with cucumbers and carrots. You know what? This is also perfect with roasted veggies to enjoy as a ‘salad’.
Do you remember me posting about the crazy food budget I was trying to do? Well, it was nearly successful until I ran out of tahini.
There are many stuff I need to have in my pantry, but I think, since I had my relationship with tahini, it is the most essential one. I did try my best to fit a certain food budget each in a week. First three weeks were completely fine. I’ve managed the headaches I had while thinking deeply what meals could I have within that certain amount. I had to divide meals into more than two meals. I was close to celebrating that finally, for the first time since I was born, I’ve learned how to manage a certain amount of money in a month. I was wrong.
It gone wrong when I started to look for a dip. I wanted hummus, but chickpeas are out of the Whole30 circle. I’ve thought of baba ganoush, which I also really love. It was saved in my system (that I would make it on the coming weekend), but later I found out that I ran out of tahini. I had to choose – whether to reboot my system (which I am 99.9% sure not possible) or to stop this insane food budget and get that bottle of tahini to make my tummy happy. As you can see, I choose that latter. I’ve told myself that I think I did well for the first three weeks and it’s time to celebrate. Three weeks sticking to the food budget? That was insane and I am glad I survived three weeks! Phew!
Baba ganoush is a Middle-eastern eggplant dip. This does not require a lot of effort, but it requires patience while waiting for the eggplants to be cooked and for them to cool down before peeling. After that, everything will be the food processor’s job. I’ve read different versions on how to make this and all of them used freshly minced/grated garlic. I’ve made the same at first, but I didn’t like the aftertaste of the garlic. Even after I brushed my teeth, my burp tasted garlic! Yuck! So the second time, I roasted a whole bulb of garlic while my eggplants are cooking and mixed the garlic with the rest of the ingredients and it was A-MA-ZING!
The roasted garlic gave a hint of sweetness to the dip and it was superb!! Baba ganoush and hummus are now having a battle – which one is better. I might try roasting the garlic the next time I make hummus and let’s see which one wins.
Baba ganoush stayed delicious for two days in my fridge. I enjoyed it with cucumber and carrots. I also tried adding cajun roasted sweet potatoes on top of the dip and I loved it, especially when you add harissa-tahini sauce. I could eat this everyday!
Have you tried making baba ganoush with roasted garlic? If not, why not try it? You will love it, I am sure.
I am sharing this at Fiesta Friday #195. Thanks to Angie and our co-hosts, Monika and Sandhya.
Whole30 Baba Ganoush with Roasted Garlic
- Difficulty: easy
Ingredients:
- 2 eggplants, 600g in total
- 6 tbsp tahini
- 4-6 tbsp lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Roasted garlic, 2 whole bulbs (for roasting garlic, you will need: 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper, and aluminum foil)
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- Parsley, to garnish
- olive oil, to drizzle the baba ganoush
- Salt, to taste
- Chili powder, to serve (I used kashmiri chili powder)
Instructions:
- Wash and dry the eggplants. Pierce them using a fork and apply a thin amount of olive oil in each.
- Turn on the stove top to low-medium and place the eggplants above and cook until soft, making sure to turn them to make sure that they are evenly cooked.
- While eggplants are cooking, preheat the oven to 400F. Cut off the head of the garlic bulb, making sure that cloves are exposed. Place in aluminum foil. Pour olive oil and then season with salt and pepper. Close the aluminum foil and place in larger baking pan. Roast for 25-35 minutes or until garlic is soft when pressed. (Your house will smell amazing!) When done, remove from the foil and let cool, Squeeze out the garlic from their skins and set aside until ready to use.
- When eggplants are done, transfer to a bowl and cover with a plate for 5 minutes. (This is to further steam the eggplants) Remove the lid and let cool down. (I used a portable mini fan to cool them down coz I was very impatient.)
- Peel off the eggplants and place the flesh into the food processor.
- Add in chopped parsley, tahini, cumin, roasted garlic, olive oil and pulse until desired consistency is reached.
- Add in lemon and salt according to liking.
- Transfer to a serving plate.
- Garnish with parsley, paprika or chili powder.
Note: This can be eaten right away or can be kept in the fridge.
29 Comments
Corina
This sounds delicious! I love all your tahini recipes – they really are making me want to get my jar out of the cupboard and make something with it. Thank so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Jhuls
Thank you, Corina. I hope you could try this one with roasted garlic – it is really good!
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I’m feeling inspired,this recipe looks amazing.I have an aga do you think I could cook the egg plants on the stones? I bet it would work. Pinned!x
Jhuls
This is one of favorite dips! Glad you liked it, too. Thanks for the visit! Have a lovely week!
Monika
Thank you for bringing this tasty dip to #CookBlogShare, Jhuls! Shared everywhere:)
Jhuls
Thanks, Monika. Appreciated much!
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food
I am so with you about tahini! This version of baba ganoush sounds absolutely delicious. I love your addition of the roasted garlic! YUM.
Jhuls
I think I’d go with more roasted garlic next time. Thanks for stopping by!
Sage
Baba Ganoush has been on my cooking wishlist for over a year, but I haven’t gotten around to trying it. Now I think I will… thanks so much for sharing! #CookBlogShare
Jhuls
It took me a while to try them, too. Got lazy with cooking the eggplants😂 But I am glad I did – it was so good!! Thanks for stopping by!
Jenny@dragonflyhomerecipes
I have always wanted to make baba ganoush. This recipe is giving me inspiration. Thanks for sharing!
Jhuls
I am glad I am inspiring you. 🙂 Have a fab week ahead!
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome
I love baba ganoush and I love garlic – pinned this one. Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
Jhuls
Thank you, Helen!
Raymund
I love this dip, looks so flavourful
Jhuls
Thank you, Raymond. Have a lovely weekend!😊
Monika
I absolutely adore whole roasted garlic and this dip is one of my favourite, thank you for bringing it ti FF:)
Jhuls
Thank you, Monika. And thanks for co-hosting! Happy FF!
Laura @ Feast Wisely
Classic recipe Jhuls and great idea on the whole roasted garlic too. My other tip would be saving the eggplant skins (if you don’t already) and slicing them to throw into a salad!
Jhuls
I love the saving the skin idea! Must try that next time! Thanks, Laura! x
Laura @ Feast Wisely
Let me know what you think Jhuls – it’s a distinctive smoky flavour that adds well to salads….
Jhuls
Yes, I will let you now. Thanks, Laura! x
MyCulinarySaga
this looks so stunning and tempting 🙂 I’m hungry already.. and love that roasted garlic… yum yum!
Jhuls
I am glad I’ve thought of roasting the garlic – it tastes really awesome! Oh my! I want this again!
Josette@thebrookcook
What a great adaptation. Looks incredible!
Jhuls
Thank you, Josette! I might go high on roasted garlic next time – it is really good with baba ganoush!
Tracey@MyBajaKitchen.com and TraceyDelaplainMD.com
Pinned this for later. Thanks Jhuls
Jhuls
Thank you, Tracey! Glad you liked this!