Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Gluten-Free Recipe : Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip)

Gluten-Free Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip)

Gluten-Free Recipe : Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip)
Gluten-Free Recipe : Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip)
Baba Ghanoush makes for a flavorful and versatile appetizer, side dish, or salad. One serving suggestion (pictured above)... We placed the baba ghanoush on a small plate surrounded by gluten-free vegetable chips (somewhat like potato chips, but instead these are made from things like sweet potato, taro, carrots, green beans, and other vegetables). A sprinkling of fresh-ground black pepper over the eggplant dip topped things off.

Baba Ghanoush (aka, Baba Ghannouj or Baba Ghannoug) has been a favorite appetizer / snack of ours for years, and this recipe is one Laura created and tuned according to our tastes in order to bring forth the mildly smokey roasted eggplant (aubergine) flavor in conjunction with a bit of warmth from whatever types of pepper(s) we choose, and presented with the complementary flavors of garlic, lemon, and tahini (sesame paste). We will also add other accent flavors on an as-desired basis; spices like cumin work well, and dried smoked peppers (chipotles, anchos, poblanos) are always a nice optional addition too.

We serve this regularly, in a gluten-free manner, with things like tortilla chips, gluten-free pretzels, and vegetable chips (as pictured above) to name a few. There are many possibilities for variations and serving suggestions, so experiment with whatever sounds good. If you have some gluten-free breads or pita chips around, those may work nicely too.

And, another great thing about this recipe is that it comes in quite handy at the end of the eggplant growing season, when you may either have a few extra eggplants you do not otherwise know what to do with, or if you happen to stumble upon a bargain on eggplant (that was our luck this time: we purchased a whole pile of small eggplants for 15-cents each where a local farmer market was getting ready to close down for the season!)

The Recipe and Directions

We posted the recipe, along with some additional pictures and discussion, over on our gluten-free recipes library at our gluten-free dessert cookbook website. It is dairy-free, vegan, wheat-free, and gluten-free. And, even without dairy, it has a rather "creamy" texture, about the thickness of sour cream of similar. Here is a direct link to the Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip) Recipe.

Hope you enjoy it!

3 comments:

  1. Yum! Baba Ghanoush is definitely one of my favorite dips!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aaaah. My mouth is watering. I LOVE eggplant. I have some growing in my garden right now. :) I'll have to bookmark this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete