Eggplant Dip Recipe

Photo: Eggplant Dip Recipe

The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) invites you to try Eggplant Dip Recipe. Enjoy Middle Eastern food and learn how to make Eggplant Dip.

This popular Middle Eastern appetizer is customarily called baba ghanoush. It is a combination of eggplants, olive oil, garlic, and peppers. The traditional version also has tahini sauce included as well. You can serve this appetizer as chunky or as blended as you desire. Serve with pita bread or other breads and crackers.

Ingredients

4 1-lb. eggplants or 4 lb. baby eggplants (about 12)
4 bulbs garlic
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tsp. salt
4 medium red sweet peppers, and coarsely chopped
2/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup snipped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1/4 cup snipped fresh oregano
Oregano leaves (optional)
Purchased flat breads, broken

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash eggplants; trim and cut into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces. Divide eggplant between 2 15x10x1-inch baking pans or shallow roasting pans. Use a sharp knife to cut off the top 1/2 inch from garlic bulbs to expose individual cloves. Leaving garlic bulbs whole, remove any loose, papery outer layers. Place garlic bulbs on a 12-inch square of heavy foil; drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Wrap foil up around the garlic bulbs to completely enclose.

2 Drizzle 1/4 cup of the remaining olive oil over eggplant in each pan and sprinkle with salt; toss to coat. Place eggplant and garlic packet in oven, placing pans on 2 separate oven racks. Roast, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring once. Add half of the sweet pepper to each pan with eggplant; stir to combine. Roast, uncovered, 20 minutes more or until vegetables are tender, stirring once. Remove pans and garlic from oven and cool.

3 Transfer eggplant and peppers to a very large glass or nonreactive bowl. Squeeze garlic pulp from individual cloves into a small bowl; use the back of a spoon to mash the pulp. Add remaining oil and lemon juice to garlic; whisk to combine. Add oil mixture, parsley, and snipped oregano to eggplant mixture; toss to combine.

4 Serve immediately, or let mixture stand, covered, up to 1 hour before serving. Or cover and chill mixture up to 3 days; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving. (Or, transfer mixture to a freezer container. Cover and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator before serving, then let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.) Garnish with oregano leaves. Serve with flat breads pieces. Make: about 40 (1/4-cup) servings.

Source Better Homes and Gardens

More from the Lebanese Recipes Kitchen: 

Zucchini & feta fritters 
Middle Eastern broad bean dip
Chickpeas Chips
Potato, Beets and Cauliflower Puree
Hummus Mashed Potatoes
Hummus Garlic Bread

Save and Share Eggplant Dip Recipe

Want to share this recipe with your family and friends? Click the button below to send them an email or save this to your favorite social network.