Skip to main content
Main

Baba Ghanouj From Jordan

A Middle Eastern eggplant dip made with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, cayenne, salt, and optional olive garnish.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Baba Ghanouj From Jordan

Makes about 3 cups
Oven350°F
Timeabout 45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the eggplant

  1. Broil or barbecue the eggplants, turning often, until the skin is blackened and blistered, about 20 minutes.

  2. Let them cool for about 10 minutes and then peel the skin from the eggplant.

  3. Alternatively, bake the eggplants in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes.

  4. Cool for about 10 minutes, then cut the eggplant lengthwise and scoop out the meat.

Make and serve

  1. Puree the eggplant and all other ingredients in a blender or food processor.

  2. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish, if desired.

  3. Serve with pita bread wedges, radishes and green onions. Makes about 3 cups.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

330Calories
6 gProtein
28 gFat
21 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tahini1 tbsp (15g)89
Sesame Seed1 tbsp (9g)52
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Olive1 large (4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Eggplant + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Eggplant + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Provides the main body and smoky flavour once charred and softened.
Tahini
Adds richness and body, giving the purée its creamy texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the tahini.
Garlic
Adds sharp, pungent aroma that deepens the overall flavour.

The step that matters

Blackening the eggplant skin. Eggplant must be cooked until the skin is fully blackened and the flesh is soft. Undercooked flesh stays bitter and fibrous, and it will not purée into a smooth, creamy dip.

Swap the tahini

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, sesame, lemon, garlic, cumin, olive, parsley):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Tahinithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, sesame, lemon, garlic, cumin, olive, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes