Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients (makes 1 large bowl)

• 5 medium aubergine
• Olive oil
• Juice of 1-2 lemons
• Salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander
• 2 tsp paprika
• 3-4 heaped tbsp tahini
• Handful of chopped fresh parsley or coriander
• 5,6,7,8 cloves of garlic – depends how garlicky you want it. 

Method

Preheat your oven to around 200 C. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Slice your
aubergines in half lengthways, keeping the green stalks on. Rub the cut side with a bit of olive oil
and place on the baking tray cut side down.
Roast in the oven until browned on the skin and they feel gooey to the touch. It’s important the
aubergines are cooked so they fall apart otherwise you’ll struggle to break up the flesh. Takes
around 45 minutes.
Take your aubergines out the oven and leave to cool. Once cooled scrape the flesh into a large bowl,
leaving out the skin. Remove any bits of skin or stalk which end up in the bowl. If your aubergines
are watery, pour off the juices, or sieve them out.
Mince your garlic and add this to the aubergine flesh along with the juice of 1 lemon. Mash the
garlic and lemon juice into the aubergine flesh with a fork, breaking up the flesh and mashing out
any lumps and strings. The lemon juice helps to break these down.
Once you’ve removed lumps and strings from the flesh and it’s more of a mush, add your tahini and
mix it into the flesh. Then carefully pour the olive oil whilst you are stirring and mashing the mixture
until it becomes creamy. The amount of olive oil will vary but is around about 150mls but you’ll
need to keep an eye on it, once you have a nice creamy sauce, stop.

Then add your spices and salt. Give it a good stir and then taste it. Add more salt, spices, tahini and
lemon juice to taste.
Finally stir through some chopped fresh parsley or coriander and serve with warmed pitta bread
slices, or as a bbq side, or really whenever you want! It’s great on toast too.

A note from our chef Ruth

We have a glut of aubergines here at Yoga Sutra Shala, and often I need to find different and
interesting ways to serve them. One way, which is quick, simple and is also good for those
aubergines that aren’t looking the prettiest, is baba ghanoush.
It’s a Middle Eastern/North African dip and is often served with mezze or flat breads. At the retreat
the guests have been loving it, so I thought I’d share the recipe.
This dish doesn’t require any kitchen equipment other than an oven and a fork, which makes it great
to try at home.