Easy Baba Ghanouzh

Directions

1. 1
   Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and line a good sized pan that will hold your eggplants with aluminum foil
2. 2
   Wash off your eggplant (it's called Batenzhan in Arabic) and remove the stem end and slice in half legnthwise.
3. 3
   Place your eggplant(s), cut side down in the baking pan and place them into the oven for 1 hour.
4. 4
   Take the pan out of the oven and let the eggplants cool - they skin should have started turning brown and the eggplant halves should have shrunk some. You might want to drain off the juices that have come out.
5. 5
   While the eggplants cool, mash up the clove(s) of garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle until it's a smooth, silky paste. BTW, this is also excellent to put on grilled chicken.
6. 6
   In a container, scoop out the contents of the eggplant and stir them to break them up a bit - this shouldn't be smooth. Add in your garlic paste, tahini and stir.
7. 7
   Add in your olive oil to give it a nice gloss - this is really eyeballed but I generally go with half a tablespoon.
8. 8
   Taste and add salt or oil as needed. This really needs at least a day in the fridge to allow the flavours to come together.
9. 9
   When you serve, drizzle a little more oil on it and sprinkle some sumac (you can find this as any Arabic market) for colour and some additional flavour. Believe it or not, I usually serve this with tortilla chips which really complement it - there's no rule that says you have to serve it with pita!
10. 10
    Sahtain/Enjoy!!