I am not a bean lover, but funny enough I love hummus. I have shared with you already my basic hummus recipe when I shared my Hummus Sandwich recipe. I love that it’s lemonier than versions you usually get in a Middle Eastern restaurant.
When we go to these Middle Eastern restaurants people assume that if you like hummus, you must like babaganoush too. NOT!!! I like eggplant, but I have given babaganoush many, many, many tries and I just can’t seem to enjoy it. I have learned with time that I need to be in the mood to eat eggplant and babaganoush is simply not my thing.
So, apparently we are in eggplant season. I’ve been receiving baby Japanese eggplants in my CSA box for weeks now. I had 2 great specimens in my fridge before my retreat and I was afraid they would spoil before I would get back… so I decided to mix it in with my traditional (which is really non-traditional in the middle Eastern sense) and see how that played up.
The result???
BABAGA-HUMMUS
2 small Japanese eggplants, halved 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed About ¼ cup of parmesan cheese, grated 1 tsp paprika The juice of 1 lime or criollo lemon – but if it’s not lemony enough I sometimes use 2 About 1 tsp salt – but I really eye-ball it… About 5 cranks of the pepper mill About ½ cup of olive oil
- Brush the eggplant halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a grill (I use my George Foreman grill) for about 10 minutes until you get nice grilled marks and the eggplants begins to soften. Take the out of the grill and set aside for a little while. The eggplant will continue to cook and soften somewhat.
- In a large food processor mix the hummus ingredients – the chickpeas, parmesan cheese, paprika, lime juice, salt, and pepper.
- Scrape the flesh of the eggplant and add that to the hummus mixture… leave the eggplant skin behind.
- Process the whole mix and thru the cover chute, drizzle the olive oil until the mixture gains a creamy consistency. Check for seasonings and pulse a few times more if you need to add anything else.
Serve this with whole grain pita bread or pita chips.
I brought this to a pool party at my friend’s Ana Yolanda and everyone loved it, especially Valerie who’s only 3 years old. Which proves my point that if you expose kids to different flavors early on, they’ll grow to develop great eating habits.
I’ve been receiving so many eggplants in my CSA box, that this has become my new version of hummus for picnics or get-togethers… it’s a nice twist on my original recipe, with a tad of smokiness from the grilled eggplants. I did it recently to participate in the Serious Eats Picnic Food roundup…
Hope you enjoy it as much as Valerie did…
KarmaFree Cooking 
Tried your recipe today and it was delish. I did make a couple of additions. I added a small amount of water to help with the processing in step3. I also added 2 tbs of tahini – just because I had some.
Thanks so much for the post.
Have you tried a chickpea-eggplant burger? They are good eats. I can forward the recipe if you want to take a look at it.
Larry
KFC – you know Larry?? I also sometimes add some water to make the hummus smoother… so I guess we should amend the recipe to state that as an option. And I am intrigued by your idea of the chickpea/eggplant burger. I would love to read the recipe and possibly try it… Thanks.
I have to say that I love babaganoush, anyways this recipe looks original and very interesting, So i’m going to check this hummus eggplant combinition very soon.
I am Lebanese and I could never eat baba ghannouj since ever and I LOVE hummus. So no it is not a rule to love it if u love hummus. To me eggplant is a no-no, I can’t eat it.
I agree about hummus in restaurants, even here in Lebanon they lack lemon, homemade is usually more lemon rich. So I feel you on this one!