Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Food: Recipes, cookbook reviews, food notes, and restaurant reviews. Unless otherwise noted, I have personally tried each recipe that gets its own page, but not necessarily recipes listed as part of a cookbook review.

Eggplant hummus

Jerry Stratton, July 8, 2006

The smooth, smoky flavor of roasted eggplant mixed with the nutty flavor of chickpeas, it combines baba ghanouj with hummus.

[print]

Servings: 5
Preparation Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 4 medium eggplants
  • 1 cup chickpeas (dry) or 2 cups (canned)
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 2 ounces garlic (about 14-20 cloves), peeled and quartered
  • juice of 4 lemons
  • 2 tblsp tahini
  • 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
  • 5 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tsp paprika

Steps

  1. Trim the ends off of the eggplant and chop the eggplant into about 1-inch pieces.
  2. Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in large pot.
  3. Add the eggplant and stir well to coat with oil.
  4. Fry on medium-high for 30 to 45 minutes, until very mushy. Stir often.
  5. Meanwhile, bring chickpeas and 2 cups water to boil in saucepan. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
  6. Fry the garlic in two tablespoons of the olive oil, about one to two minutes, until golden brown.
  7. Mix the garlic (with its oil), lemon juice, pomegranate juice, salt, paprika, and chickpeas (with their water) together in the large pot.
  8. Transfer in batches to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

If you use dried chickpeas, soak them in four cups water overnight. They should be crunchy but edible (and tasty) when done, something you might put in a salad. You can do this a few days ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator, draining them just before you make the hummus.

You can also get concentrated pomegranate juice, which is of ketchup consistency. Instead of a quarter cup, use an eighth cup of concentrated juice and an eighth cup of water.

When processing it in the food processor, keep going until it is really smooth, almost fluffy. In my food processor, I need to do it in three batches. I can try to do two batches, but one of them always ends up making a mess.

For presentation and added flavor, sprinkle servings with olive oil and either paprika or cayenne pepper. You might even garnish with a few black olives or olive slices.

Serve with tortilla chips, tortillas, bread, or with California tabouleh. I enjoy it on an open-faced olive-oil-fried sourdough bread sandwich, with tomatoes and feta cheese.

It can be frozen, though you’ll want to heat it up before eating it rather than just letting it thaw.

  1. <- mmm-yoso!!!
  2. Mojito ->