Recipe: Smoky baba ghanouj (eggplant dip)

Some years ago, I did a bit of traveling in the Middle East and fell in love with the proper preparation of baba ghanouj.  I'd always been a fan, but never knew that what I had been enjoying was simply an eggplant dip - I had not tried the real deal.  It seems simple, but the biggest difference is that a proper baba ghanouj needs to have a certain smokiness about it as it usually begins with the whole eggplants being roasted in an old school oven, charcoal grill, or over a wood fire.  The difference turns a side dish into a meal - really, I would go into a restaurant and just order baba ghanouj and pita bread and I was good.  As a lot of the old-world methods of cooking are less available in Vancouver (pizza shops even need a special permit for wood ovens), I've adapted this recipe a bit to the equipment readily available, but arriving at the same destination.  If you can cook the eggplant old-school, do it!  Just remember to prick the eggplant with a fork well before roasting.  The onion nicely rounds out the flavour being sweated off, but if you like extra smokiness, slice it up and smoke it along with the eggplant.

You will need:

2                      large eggplants

1/2                   red onion

4 cloves           garlic

60ml / 1/4C     tahini

30ml / 2Tbs     lemon juice (or more to taste)

pinch                cumin

pinch                smoked paprika

as needed         olive oil 

as needed         black sesame seeds

as needed         kalonji (onion seed)

to taste             kosher salt

to taste             cracked black pepper

Method:

 - load up a smoker with wood chips and get it smoky

 - if you have a barbeque, set it on low - or set the oven to 325F / 163C

 - slice the eggplants into thick slices, brush with olive oil, and smoke for 30 minutes

 - if you have a barbeque, transfer the slices to the grill and cook soft - or roast in the oven

 - let the eggplants cool and remove the skin - optional - I don't mind it, but some do

 - mince the garlic and dice the onion small

 - sweat the onion and garlic in olive oil on low heat

 - when the onion and garlic start to colour, add a pinch of cumin and sweat a little more

 - in a food processor, blend the onion, garlic and tahini

 - roughly chop the eggplant and add it in

 - use the lemon juice and olive oil to taste 

 - if the taste is good, but it's too thick, add a little water

 - season with salt and black pepper

 - when serving, drizzle olive oil over it, and garnish with paprika, kalonji and black sesame