I love this recipe, but I roasted my eggplant the way my Greek mother-in-law showed me...I place the whole eggplant, skin and all on the stove burner and charred each side over medium-high heat until it is soft and black all over. Then, i wrap it tightly in foil and placed in on the burner at low heat for about 30 min, turning once. By this time it should be very soft. Let it sit until it cools enough to handle and unwrap the foil over a bowl to collect all of the juices that leak (the juices add so much flavor) and carefully remove the blackened outer skin and discard that. Then you are left with a perfectly smoky eggplant pulp to add to the other ingredients. I keep the seeds in it and don't have any complaints of bitterness.
I think when you grade a recipe you should follow the recipe all the way through. This allways makes me smile when I see people saying "I substituted this for that and I also fried it instead of baking and then I used different amount of ingredients and it tuned out to be yacky, so do not bother."
I like to follow recipes and find out what makes the taste. So here it is:
1. This is very important to have a good tahini. Buy one made from roasted sesame seeds. No mayo can substitute tahini. If you like you can use mayo in addition, but that alternates the taste.
2. Choose big eggplant or 2 medium. One of the comments here was very helpful.
3. Bake it - do not fry. Do not cut and do not peel before baking. The catch here is not only to make it soft. It is important that skin and some eggplant meat burn. The best method to use described by TYEBUG in comments.
4. I did not have to deal with bitterness. Eggplants here in California are not bitter at all. I tried Chinese eggplants for this recipe as well, the regular eggplants are better, they taste different. Chinese eggplants might be a great alternative to bitter once in your area.
Do not forget to salt it at the end!
EGGPLANTS EXPLODE IF YOU DONT POKE THE SKIN!!!!!!!!! OOOOPSSS!!! I almost had a heart attack. I thought my oven was exploding. Following directions is a good idea
here's a hint to get rid of the "bitterness" some are unhappy about: after cutting the eggplant rub salt on it and let it set for about 20-30 minutes (makes prep time longer but worth it. the salt draws out the bitterness)rinse pat dry and continue with the rest of the steps.;)
This recipe calls for way too much fresh lemon juice. I added about 3 extra tablespoons of garlic, more salt and sesame seeds and it still was distasteful with the strong lemon flavor. This was quite an expensive recipe to toss ($6.00 just for a jar of tahini). Afterwards I checked one of my cookbooks for Baba Ghanoush and that recipe called for SIX eggplants to be used with 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice!
Very very good recipe. I didn't think I liked Baba Ghanoush until I had it as part of an appetizer platter at a local Lebanese restaurant recently. I had only ever bought the store brand pre-made stuff which was just awful. So I was inspired to try some of my own. This recipe was very good. I agree with another reviewer who suggested roasting the eggplant. Just place it directly on your burner for a few minutes until the skin is sufficiently burned (yes it will smell like something is burning). Then wrap it in foil and cook it directly on the burner for another 30 minutes (depending on size) turning it over halfway. Then I put a plastic baggy over it for a few minutes to let it sweat and the peel will come right off. I made the rest of it using the exact recipe and it's in the fridge now. Delicious!!
This was great addition to a Mediterranean themed buffet. My friends are still talking about it! I thought the amount of lemon juice was just right. To avoid bitterness, I drained the eggplant pulp really well after roasting and before mixing with the other ingredients (put the pulp in a colander; place a plate and a little weight like a bottle of olive oil on it; let sit for 15 minutes). Great recipe!
I had great success with this recipie. Excellent with toasted French bread and good quality cheese. From my many years of trial and error in cooking I would strongly suggest using a food processor with the mashing blade rather than a blender (as is noted). Blenders are very difficult to use for relatively thick mixes like this. They do work but they take a lot of patience. I suspect that those who gave this recipe a low rating may have started with bitter or less than desireable eggplant. Just as a precaution I took a small taste of all my eggplant after the baking process and before placing them in the food processor.
Very yummy! I made it twice and both times it turned out wonderfully. My preparation time was longer than the one specified by the author because I let the eggplant sit in a colander for half an hour after I baked it. It allowed the bitterness and some extra liquid disappear. Plus I squeezed out as much liquid from the eggplant as possible before putting it in the food processor. If the length of preparation time is a concern to you and you do not need to have the dish ready the same day I suggest splitting the cooking time in two batches: broil and drain the eggplant during the first batch the evening before and mix it with all remaining ingredients in the second batch the next day. Good luck!
