Went to the outdoor market the other day and got 5 beautiful eggplants for the even more beautiful price of 1000 won. That's about 85 cents. Score!
5 eggplants was more than enough to whip up a bowl of baba ganoush! This has long been on my list of foods to try making myself, so I was stoked to actually get around to giving it a go. And what's fully awesome about baba ganoush is that it's already traditionally vegan, so I didn't have to go searching for specifically vegan recipes. I kind of combined a few recipes online and tweaked them slightly based on my taste. So here's what I did:
{ Ingredients }
3 medium sized eggplants
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs tahini
pinch of ground cumin
Salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp)
Parsley for garnish
{ Method }
1. I poked holes in 3 of the eggplants, then popped them in a 200C oven for about 20 minutes, til they looked deflated and well-roasted.
2. After I let them cool for a few minutes, I cut them open and peeled the insides away from the skin.
3. Then in my food processor, I blended the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, and cumin together until there were no lumps of garlic.
4. I drained some of the liquid from the eggplant, then put the eggplant in the processor with the other ingredients. I pulsed it all together until everything was well mixed and there weren't any long strings of eggplant.
5. Last, I added a pinch of salt, then garnished with parsley (you can also add chopped parsley to the actual mix). You can serve it on any bread vehicle like pita bread, but I chose crackers!
I'm really happy with how it came out! It complimented the peppery flavor of the crackers perfectly and the lemon juice gave it a really nice 'fresh' taste. One thing I will change in the future though, is the amount of garlic. I used two pretty large cloves which resulted in some serious killer garlic breath for the rest of the day! So I plan on reducing it to one clove next time. Or maybe I will try using roasted garlic, rather than raw.
So far, the only place I have found tahini in Korea, is at the Itaewon Foreign Food Mart. It's in the section with the canned beans and tomatoes. It's expensive (11,000 won), but it will last a while. Plus, it's worth it if you're like me and plan on making loads of hummus and baba ganoush. :)
As for the vegan crackers, you can find 'Carr's Table Water with Cracked Pepper ' crackers at most department store supermarkets in Korea (Lotte, Shinsaegae, Hyundai), but I bought this at Sweet Space at COEX. You can also find it at the Itaewon Foreign Food Mart.
