Baba Ghanoug Masri
The Egyptian version, which is a salad rather than a purée: charred aubergine chopped rough and mixed with tomato, pepper and onion, with only a little tahini.
Photograph credit: Egyptian baba ghanoush by Stu Spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Make Ahead and Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days. Bring back to room temperature and refresh the lemon.
Making Baba Ghanoug Masri
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Char the aubergines whole directly over a gas flame or under a maximum grill, turning often, 25 to 30 minutes until black all over and completely collapsed.
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Put them in a colander, split them open and leave to drain and cool for 15 minutes.
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Scrape the flesh from the skins and chop it roughly on a board. Do not purée it.
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Mix with the tomato, pepper, rinsed onion and garlic.
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Whisk the tahini, lemon juice, 3 tbsp oil, cumin and salt together and fold it through.
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Taste — it should be sharp and smoky, with the tahini in the background rather than the front.
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Spread on a plate, finish with parsley and oil, and serve at room temperature.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Chop it, do not blend it. That is the whole difference.
- Two spoonfuls of tahini, no more.
- Drain the aubergine properly or the salad waters down.
Behind the Recipe
This is where Egyptian and Levantine cooking part company over the same vegetable. The Levantine version blends aubergine and tahini into a smooth, pale, sesame-dominated purée; the Egyptian one chops everything and keeps the tahini to a couple of spoonfuls, so it stays a salad you can see the components of. Charring the aubergine over flame still matters as much — without smoke there is nothing holding it together.
Serving Ideas
Aish baladi · Ta'ameya · Grilled meat
If You're Missing Something
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Quick Answers
How long does Baba Ghanoug Masri take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of draining, so allow 1 hour 5 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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