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Baba Ganoush - A Middle Eastern Eggplant Dip

This roasted eggplant dip is a great party food or special treat. It is very easy to make. If you do not have tahini in the house, you can leave it out. Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and is sort of expensive. I can't think of a substitute you could use successfully. Leaving it out doesn't affect the end result all that much.

What you need:
2 large eggplants
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 teaspoon teriyaki sauce
1 clove crushed garlic
Wash both eggplants, and pierce them with a knife. Place eggplants on a cookie sheet, put them in a 450 degree preheated oven until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork (should be about 20 minutes). After eggplants are baked and cooled, peel the skin off. Put eggplant in a mixing bowl. Stir in the lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and plain yogurt. Mix ingredients until smooth. Stir in tahini according to taste. When all ingredients are added, transfer the dip to a serving bowl. Stir in teryiaki sauce and garlic. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Serve with toasted pita bread wedges or any hearty wheat cracker.

(One note of warning. This dish is not a pleasant color...it looks a bit like day old oatmeal. Don't let that put you off. You can always experiment with the basic eggplant puree and add ingredients that affect the color. See my version listed next. It is a beautiful golden color, thanks to the tumeric in the curry powder. ) I also made a different version while experimenting that was wonderful. We have had it frequently, served on
warmed flat bread with cucumbers and/or sprouts. Basically, this is what I did:

Bubba Ganoush New Moon Curried Eggplant Dip
This recipe has my own personal spin on Baba Ganoush.

Wash both eggplants, and pierce them with a knife. Place eggplants on a cookie sheet, put them in a 450 degree preheated oven as with the previous recipe. After eggplants are baked and cooled, peel the skin off. Put eggplant in a mixing bowl. Stir in sea salt, some fresh garlic (I used about 6 cloves but it's all about preference here), just a drizzle of olive oil, and about 1 tablespoon or more of a really good curry blend, again to your taste if you want more.(I get my curry at a Middle Eastern market and store and the regular grocery store brands pale in comparison.) Puree all ingredients until smooth. If you want to rev it up, add a dried or fresh chili pepper when pureeing. Chill for at least 2 hours. Serve as a dip with chips or like I mentioned above. This dish is very similar to hummus but not so starchy and bland.