Baba Ghanouj- Egg Plant with Sesame Oil

December 10, 2012

After living away for a while from readily available desi meat dishes, I was able to truly appreciate the Arabic Cuisine. The best part is that Arabic Cuisine makes the meat appetizing without actually adding many spices! Use of sesame oil, olive oil and some seasoning, lets your palate truly enjoy the flavor of the king ingredient- meat or vegetable. If eating out I would prefer Lebanese food to any other cuisine 8 out of 10 times!

My colleague Zaina- a Lebanese by descent, has been a great help in giving me the authentic recipes of some of my favorite dishes like Baba Ghanouj, Kafta batata and others. I will share as I try them out!

This is another vegetarian treat!

Baba Ghanouj- (we didn’t have pomegranate seeds to garnish it)

Recipe: Bana Ghanouj

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 3

Ingredients

Brinjal- 2 large and purplish
2-3 tablespoon Sesame oil (it can be very strong for our taste- start by adding one)
2 tablespoon Mayonnaise plain
3 tablespoon Yogurt
2 cloves of Garlic

Instructions

Place brinjals on an oven try or grill and roast them i.e. till their skin starts blistering. (Alternatively, you can also use the gas flame for this purpose- the smell of grilled brinjal is a little different!)
Take brinjals out of the oven, let them cool and peel off the skin.
Mash the brinjal with a fork.
Take 2 garlic cloves and mash them into the brinjal.
Add sesame oil, mayonnaise and yogurt
Mix it so well that it forms a paste.
Take it out in a dish – in the center make a small well with spoon and drizzle olive oil.
Garnish it with pomegranate fruit seeds
Serve it with toasted peta bread