{Whole30} Baba Ganoush with Roasted Garlic - The Not So Creative Cook

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
• Print

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:

1. Wash and dry the eggplants. Pierce them using a fork and apply a thin amount of olive oil in each.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.)
5. Peel off the eggplants and place the flesh into the food processor.
6. Add in chopped parsley, tahini, cumin, roasted garlic, olive oil and pulse until desired consistency is reached.
7. Add in lemon and salt according to liking.
8. Transfer to a serving plate.
9. Garnish with parsley, paprika or chili powder.

Note: This can be eaten right away or can be kept in the fridge.

  

Also sharing at

What’s for Dinner? | Foodie Friends Friday | Happiness is Homemade | Mix it up Monday | Melt in your Mouth Monday | What’d You Do This Weekend? | Totally Terrific Tuesday | Recipe of the Week |  Cook Blog Share | Cook Once Eat Twice |

Featured at Melt in your Mouth Monday Recipe Blog Hop #332

 

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