baba ghanouj

[basking_lizard]

Okay, so I was inspired by this post to make baba ghanouj last night for a get together for a friend's birthday.

I used this recipe to make it, and texture-wise it came out fantastic - it's really nice and smooth and creamy. But the taste has a kind of unpleasant bitter edge. Is there anything I can do to mellow it out, or am I stuck with the

Comments

[basking_lizard]

I thought about grilling, but our grill is out of gas. I'll try the salting method the next time I do this.

[anita_margarita]

Also, remove the seed pockets, as they can be bitter.

About the best I can suggest is to up the other flavors a little and try to cover up the bitterness... that is a hard characteristic to disguise.

[basking_lizard]

Doh, I tossed everything in the blender, including the seeds. :(

Maybe I'll add some more tahini and a little more salt and pepper. I saw cumin mentioned in another recipe, that might help too.

[helgarde]

I roast mine in the oven, and it works fine. My recipe also uses pomegranate molasses as a souring agent instead of lemon--this adds a bit of sweetness which takes the bitter edge off.

I have also found that instead of using pale raw tahini, using darker roasted tahini helps--I find that a bit of the bitterness comes not from the eggplant, but the raw tahini.

Here is my recipe, which is based on a Lebanese one.

http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2005/07/07/aubergine-rhapsody/

[helgarde]

Oh, and I also discard most of the juice from roasting or grilling the eggplant--that also takes care of a lot of the bitterness. I forgot that part.

slice and soak

[wolfdancer]

in salt water. Helps with alergic reactios too. If you cut the top and the base off first that helps too, am told.

[gorillagirl77]

It's the older eggplants that tend to get bitter. Usually, the smaller ones are less bitter, but I would still toss the seeds. Good luck!

[houses7177]

Salt it if possible by cutting, salting, and letting drain for an hour. If you're roasting it whole on the grill, then squeeze out as much moisture from the flesh before pureeing it into the paste. That will remove most of the bitterness.