Recipe: Easy, no-mess, quick, smokiest baba ganoush
Recently I’ve been making baba ganoush. I tried the stove-top method a while ago, and it was too much hassle, too messy, and it took too long. Broiling the eggplant in the oven was less messy, but the eggplant never developed much smokiness; the broiler emits heat downwards and the smoke from the eggplant skin escapes upwards, so much of the smoke never gets absorbed by the eggplant.
One day I suddenly had an epiphany. I was inspired by the age-old Chinese quick-smoking method that’s been used to make tea-smoked duck, and lapsang souchong tea, among many other things. I devised a method and tested it out. It was a big success on the first try—it was easily among the smokiest and tastiest baba ganoush I’ve had! Also, it’s quicker, easier, requires very little intervention, and dirties very few dishes and cooking utensils. You can have your baba ganoush from eggplant to finish in 30 minutes! What’s not to like?
After eating a large amount of baba ganoush1 as I dialed in the recipe, I hereby present you my method.
All you need are a wok or large pan, a lid, a vented kitchen hood (or an outdoor burner), and a pressure cooker (optional).
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves 1-2
Ingredients
1 large eggplant, about 1lb (450g)
Juice of one lemon, or to taste
1tsp salt, or to taste
2 tbsp tahini, or to taste
2-3 cloves of peeled garlic, or to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or to taste
2 tbsp sugar for smoking
Your favorite garnishes (parsley, sumac, paprika, etc.)
Instructions
Peel the skin off the eggplant with a fruit peeler. Liberally sprinkle sugar into the mix. Smoked sugar adds a layer of depth to the smoky flavor (don’t worry, you won’t taste the sweetness).
Dice the eggplant into small cubes. This greatly increases the surface area in contact with smoke, so the eggplant absorbs the smoke much more readily and rapidly. Won’t hurt to throw in a few cloves of garlic at this point. Sprinkle the juice of half of a lemon over the diced eggplant and mix lightly. The citric acid in lemon juice prevents the eggplant from oxidizing and therefore darkening prematurely.
Spread the eggplant skin and sugar mixture over the bottom of the smoking vessel, making sure the peels don’t overlap too much. To make cleanup easier, you can line the wok with aluminum foil. Put a grill or any object that can support the eggplant tray (you can use two twigs crossed or a pair of old utensils that you don’t mind getting dirty).
Turn the heat to high until the contents start smoking.
Set the tray of eggplant on top of the support.
Cover the contents with a lid, ensuring there is ample headroom for smoke to permeate the eggplant pieces, and continue heating until the smoke turns yellow. This may take a while, but if yellow smoke hasn’t appeared in 5 minutes, try turning the heat up more.
Once the smoke turns yellow and smells sweet, the eggplant will start to absorb the smoke. Keep the lid closed for at least 2 minutes, and for longer if a stronger smoky flavor is desired.
The eggplant and garlic will turn yellow as they absorb the smoke. At this point, the eggplant will already smell like baba ganoush! But we still need to finish cooking it as it’s not yet cooked through.
Transfer the smoked eggplant and garlic into a pressure cooker, adding the bulk of the olive oil, and mix evenly with a spatula. Adding salt now can help with sweating the eggplant, but if you are not confident about the exact amount, add a little now and adjust in the final step.
Pressure-cook on high for 8 minutes. (If you don’t want to use a pressure cooker, skip this step and proceed to the next step instead, but prolong cooking by at least 30 minutes). Don’t worry about burning the eggplant; the eggplant will release plenty of water during the pressure-cooking process.
Release pressure after 8 minutes. The eggplant will have mostly turned into mush.
Now all that’s needed is to reduce the remaining moisture content. Transfer the contents into a pan or wok with a wide opening so moisture evaporates quickly. If you elect to reduce in the pressure cooker, just keep in mind that it would take longer. Cook on high heat while turning and pressing with a spatula, for about 3-5 minutes, or until the chunks completely disintegrate and enough water has evaporated to reach a thick, velvety, and creamy consistency.
In the last minute, add salt, tahini, and the rest of the lemon juice to taste, mixing rapidly to keep everything emulsified. Let cool and serve!
Key insights
Dicing the eggplant maximizes surface area; smoking before cooking also ensures maximum smoke absorption due to its spongy nature. As a result, the eggplant only needs 2-3 minutes of contact with smoke.
This method also maximizes the utilization of the peel, which is the main source of the smoky flavor. Since there is never direct contact with the burned skin, the baba ganoush is never bitter, yet it is smokier than both the stove-top and broiler versions.
Compared to the popular method of burning whole eggplants on a gas burner, this method is foolproof and safe. There is no need to keep turning the eggplant, and there is no risk of eggplant explosion.
Using a pressure cooker greatly reduces the required cooking time and eliminates the need to use a blender or food processor afterward.
A quick sauté eliminates the need for draining the excess liquid and readily emulsifies the final product. Furthermore, rather than having the eggplant juice go to waste, it concentrates the flavor even more, resulting in a richer baba ganoush.
Smoking is best done outdoors or indoors under a vented hood. But if you are attempting to make smoky baba ganoush, I assume you already have a way to deal with the smoke.
Please try it out if you can, and I’d love to hear what you think. Feedback and improvements are always appreciated! Leave a comment below and let us know.
One large eggplant (~1lb, 450g) contains roughly 0.05mg of nicotine, equivalent to 1/20 of a cigarette. Much of the nicotine content appears to be concentrated in seeds, so smoking eggplant skin (with proper ventilation of course) shouldn’t cause a health concern.