Sesame paste. What is tahini sesame paste

Tahini - what is it? You will learn the answer to this question, as well as the recipe for making this delicious pasta, from the article.

Tahini - what is it?

In oriental cuisine, pasta made from simple products is very popular. It is prepared from simple products and is suitable for cooking. It also includes vegetable oil, and sometimes lemon juice or water is added. Tahini is a valuable product, a source of vitamin B1, minerals and fatty acids. That is why it is believed that eating sesame paste has a beneficial effect on hair growth, fights acne on the skin, and also has a positive effect on digestion. Now that we have answered the question “tahini - what is it”, let's move on to the recipe for its preparation and tell about the dishes prepared on its basis.

tahini sesame paste

This addition to oriental dishes is not only very tasty, but also high in calories. Therefore, if you are watching your figure, try to use it within reasonable limits. How to cook tahini? The recipe is simple:

• Take two cups of unroasted sesame seeds and fill it with clean water so that it completely covers it. Leave the product for four hours.
• Drain the water and put the sesame seeds in the refrigerator for another four hours.
• After that, spread the seeds in a thin layer on baking paper and place in the oven to dry at the lowest possible temperature.
• Transfer the prepared sesame seeds to the blender bowl and start grinding it at the lowest speed. After that, go to medium speed, and then to high.
• Gradually add two tablespoons of olive oil to the seeds.

When you get a homogeneous product as a result of mixing, it can be transferred to a glass container. Next, we will tell you which dishes use tahini sauce and share interesting recipes with you.

chickpea salad

This dish consists of a minimum of products, and tahini dressing gives it a special taste. You can read the salad recipe below:

• Soak 100 grams of dry chickpeas overnight in water, then peel and boil until tender.
• While the chickpeas are cooking, make the dressing. Cooking tahini will not cause you any difficulties. To do this, grind 100 grams of sesame seeds with a blender and mix with two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the juice of half a lemon to the paste, minced garlic (one or two cloves), and salt and pepper to taste. Gradually add ice water to the tahini to thin the sauce to your desired consistency. Transfer the finished product to a glass jar and store it in the refrigerator.
• Cut 100 grams of cherry tomatoes into slices, add boiled chickpeas to them, season with tahini sauce and lemon juice.
• Salt and pepper the salad to your liking.

The dish turns out to be quite satisfying, so you can use it not only as a snack, but also as a side dish for meat, poultry or fish.

tahini cookies

This Turkish treat is very high in calories and delicious, so eat it with care so as not to add extra inches to your waist. Read the dessert recipe here:

• Mix one cup of tahini paste and one cup of sugar.
• Add to them one egg yolk, 200 grams of margarine, three and a half glasses of flour and a bag of vanilla.
• Knead the soft dough, divide it into small pieces, form into balls, grease them with protein and roll in chopped nuts.

Bake the cookies until done in a preheated oven.

Fish with tahini sauce

This time we offer you to cook salmon in oriental style. Read the recipe for a healthy and tasty fish here:

• Take a few salmon steaks, wash and dry them.
• Prepare the spice mix. To do this, combine two parts of black peppercorns, one part of coriander, one part of cinnamon bark, one part of cloves, two parts of cumin, 2 teaspoons of cardamom pods, one part of nutmeg and two parts of paprika.
• Prepare clay baking dishes and grease each with vegetable oil.
• Rub the steaks with the seasoning mixture (one teaspoon each) and salt to taste.
• Place each piece in your clay mold and drizzle with a spoonful of olive oil.
• Chop half an onion and one clove of garlic, and then fry in vegetable oil. At the very end, sprinkle them with cardamom (a couple of pinches are enough) and mix.
• Place two tablespoons of tahini, two tablespoons of lemon juice, and a little water in a saucepan. Stir the ingredients. Put the future sauce on the fire, and when the liquid boils, add the fried onions and garlic to it. Boil the contents of the saucepan to a state of thick sour cream.
• Remove the seeds from the pomegranate, chop the cashews and chop the parsley leaves.
• When the salmon is ready, take it out, pour over the sauce, and then place it back in the oven for ten minutes.

Put the fish on plates, garnish with nuts, pomegranate and herbs, and then serve immediately.

Cake with chocolate and tahini

This delicious dessert has a pronounced taste and aroma. To prepare it, read the following recipe:

• Beat six proteins with 100 grams of sugar.
• Melt 200 grams of dark chocolate in a water bath, and then add 100 grams of butter to it. Once the mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat and add five egg yolks in turn.
• In the resulting mass, add 35 grams of flour and mix.
• At the very end, add whipped proteins to the dough.
• From the finished dough, bake three identical cakes in round shapes.
• To prepare the cream, heat up 300 grams of sesame paste and combine it with 150 grams of melted chocolate. After that, whip 500 grams of cream and gently mix them into a sweet mass.
• Place the first cake in a detachable form and grease it with cream. Do the same with the rest of the blanks.
• Put the cake in the refrigerator and leave it there until completely solidified.

Carefully remove the finished dessert from the mold, cut and serve with hot tea or coffee.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoy the popular tahini pasta in the East. What it is and how to cook it, we told you in great detail and we will be glad if our recipes can make your menu more diverse.

Among the oriental dishes that are actively mastered by Europeans today is tahini sesame paste. What is it and why should we fall in love with this specific product, the main ingredient of the famous hummus and halva?

Meet Sesame Tahini Paste

This popular ingredient in Arabic cuisine is made from toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil, which are combined into a homogeneous mass. As an alternative to the latter, peanut or olive oil can be used in the preparation of sesame (it is also called sesame) paste.

This is not the most common product in our stores, but you can still buy tahina. Another question is its naturalness and nutritional value. The fact is that manufacturers often add hardened fats and glucose-fructose syrup to sesame oil, which significantly reduces its quality.

How to make tahini paste at home: recipe

Gourmets claim that in our realities, recreating real tahini at home - a paste made from ground sesame seeds, the "magic ingredient" of oriental cuisine - if not impossible, then very difficult. First of all, in the original version, it needs polished seeds. But you can still try, especially since the store options are sometimes also far from the original version of tahini paste.

So how do you make tahini sesame paste? Pour half a cup of sesame seeds into a heated pan. Stir all the time so that they do not burn, otherwise the paste will taste very bitter. Transfer the roasted seeds to a blender. Pour in 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and use a kitchen tool to turn it all into a smooth, homogeneous paste. Transfer to a jar and keep in the refrigerator. It can stand there for quite a long time, about a month, while visual stratification is possible (the oil is at the top), which does not affect the properties.

The taste of homemade tahini can be enhanced by adding a little lemon juice or a small clove of garlic to it.

Tahini paste: what is eaten with and how to use it in the kitchen?

In Arabic cuisine, sesame paste is used primarily to make hummus and baba ghanoush, or a fragrant eggplant dip.

What culinary uses can you find for tahini if ​​you are not cooking oriental dishes? This product is valued not by itself (it has a rather specific taste), but as an ingredient that brings a special note, a unique charm to the dishes to which it is added. For example, if you put a teaspoon of tahini paste in puree, pancake dough or pies, it will give them an interesting nutty flavor. In this product (or just in sesame oil), combined with thick yogurt, turmeric and paprika, poultry or lamb can be marinated. After tasting such a product, you will understand what it will be delicious to combine for you.

Sesame tahini paste: benefits. Will it do any harm?

One of the favorite ingredients of oriental cuisine is a real treasure trove of vitamins and minerals. It is enough that its "base" is sesame. And for centuries, it belongs to the category of food, which today is called the fashionable term "superfoods".
What exactly tahini paste demonstrates beneficial properties?

• In modest sesame seeds are present unsaturated fatty acids very beneficial for our health. It is for the sake of these famous omega acids that it is advised to eat sea fish. They strengthen the body and give the body energy.
• Tahini paste contains a lot magnesium, calcium and B vitamins. Among the latter, the amount of vitamin B1 (thiamine) deserves special attention - an assistant to the nervous system, digestive and cardiovascular systems. The richness of vitamins and minerals makes it possible to use sesame paste as not only an exotic culinary ingredient, but also a good remedy for problems with hair, nails, and skin.
• Popular in Arabic cuisine, sesame oil contains phytosterols, which reduce the level of "bad" cholesterol and protect against heart disease.
• Tahini sesame paste is an important component of a vegetarian diet as it is a source of good quality protein.
• A useful property of tahina is its remarkable digestibility, which is explained by its delicate, delicate texture. Therefore, all valuable substances are available even for people with digestive problems. Moreover, when added to rather heavy dishes, tahini paste made from ground sesame seeds makes them easier to digest.

Tahini can be harmed by the body only if it is consumed excessively, especially since the calorie content of the product is high: more than 80 calories per tablespoon.

Tahini, tahini, sesame or sesame paste. Many have heard about this traditional oriental product. Tahini can be used as a main course, or it can be part of culinary recipes for first courses, desserts or sauces. It has a peculiar taste and contains a large number of useful trace elements. The basis of the paste is sesame seeds, crushed with oil or water to a paste-like state.

History of tahini

The history of tkhina began more than 4000 years ago, it is mentioned in cuneiform writings. In ancient Mesopotamia, people offered sesame wine as a gift to their gods. The plant was grown in the vast fields of Mesopotamia, and pasta and oil were made from the crop.

There are records of Herodotus - the father of history, confirming these facts. The recipe for hummus, which includes sesame paste, dates back to the 13th century. The ancient Chinese and Japanese also used this sauce in cooking. In the 40s of the last century, tahini became popular in America, along with the spread of healthy eating principles.

What is sesame paste

Tahini tastes like peanut butter. This thick mass is of 2 types - light and dark. White or light beige tahini is made from peeled white sesame seeds. Dark or green-yellow - from unrefined black raw materials. It has a bitter taste, but contains more vitamins. Often the composition of the product includes both types of sesame.

The sauce is high-calorie and nutritious - in 100 g of the product there are about 700 kcal. The content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is 24 g, 62 g and 10 g, respectively. You should not abuse the product, especially for those who follow a diet.

The advantage of oriental seasoning is the presence of a large amount of useful substances in it. They have a positive effect on body processes, including normalizing digestion.

The product is not in short supply. A large assortment of tekhina can be found on the shelves of supermarkets and in shops of oriental goods.

Tahini benefits and harms

Sesame paste is widely used due to the variety of trace elements and vitamins in its composition. This product is popular among vegetarians.

1. A tablespoon of the mass contains more than 60 mg of omega-3 fatty acids and about 4 mg of omega-6. These substances are responsible for the functioning of the heart and brain.
2. Calcium. In 100 g of sesame, its amount is about 800 mg. For comparison, in the same portion of cow's milk, calcium is about 150 mg.
3. Vitamins C, E.
4. B vitamins. A serving of pasta contains 15% of the daily requirement of thiamine, an important trace element for the digestive and nervous systems.
5. Phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc are also present in tehina. These minerals are needed for the smooth functioning of the liver, gastrointestinal tract, and kidneys.
6. Cellulose. Helps to cope with problems of the gastrointestinal tract.
7. Miteonin. The substance removes poisons and toxins from the liver.

Useful properties of the product are not limited to this list.

1. With the help of sesame paste, you can improve digestion. The consistency of the product is homogeneous, puree-like, which allows the body to easily digest heavy food. A few teaspoons of paste a day will help prevent gastrointestinal disorders or normalize the system.
2. Acne, pimples and small sores on the face can be eliminated if you take just 1 tablespoon of sesame mass per day. This is facilitated by zinc, which is found in large quantities in tahini. The positive effect of zinc on skin problems was announced by scientists of honey. center of Maryland.
3. An unbalanced diet leads to a deterioration in the condition of the scalp. With the help of a sesame product, you can restore the health of your hair. For those who suffer from dry, brittle and weak hair, there are several recipes. You can make masks based on sesame oil, or take 3 dessert spoons of tahini per day. After a few weeks, the condition of the hair will noticeably improve.

Tahini is a product made from grated sesame seeds, so both products have the same beneficial properties. The same applies to contraindications.

Harm of sesame paste

1. It is necessary to refuse tahini for varicose veins. Substances that make up sesame products can cause blood clots.
2. It is not recommended to take sesame paste and aspirin at the same time.
3. With caution, you need to use sesame paste with products containing oxalic acid. This list includes tomatoes, sorrel, cucumbers, parsley, spinach and other vegetables and fruits.
4. Obesity is not recommended to use this high-calorie product.
5. In diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, it is not recommended to eat tahini.
6. Allergic reactions to sesame and its derivatives require a complete rejection of tahini.

There is no specific norm for the use of sesame paste. But even a healthy person cannot eat it in large quantities. Oversaturation of the body with a product can lead to various disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

Application of sesame paste

Tahini is an integral part of the cuisine of Israel, Japan, Cyprus, Greece, India, China and some Arab countries. Sesame paste can be eaten separately as a sandwich, simply spread on bread. The product can be used for baking bakery and confectionery products, as a base for sauces, as an ingredient for desserts.

To make the taste of the pasta special and expressed in tahini, you can add sumac spice. Lemon juice, garlic, salt, paprika, olive oil will add piquancy to the pasta. This sauce can be served with meat and fish dishes, bread or fresh vegetables can be dipped in it.

Tahini recipes

The peculiarity of sesame paste is its versatility. It is combined with meat, poultry and fish, goes well with vegetables, gives an original taste to desserts and pastries. It is an essential ingredient in hummus. Sesame paste is the basis of the original composition of halva, instead of sunflower seeds.

Many traditional recipes in the classic recipe are based on sesame paste:

• Falafel. Dish of oriental cuisine. Balls of crushed beans (usually chickpeas) with the addition of beans and spices deep-fried;
• Hummus. Chickpea puree with sesame paste, paprika, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.

• Tahini pita. Tahini pies are common in Crete and Greece. Especially often they are prepared for fasting.
• Halva. Oriental sweet, which includes sesame paste, sugar and nuts.

An oriental delicacy can be prepared at home. Pasta is easy to prepare, it will be an excellent addition to the daily meal and decoration of the festive table, allowing the usual dishes to “play out” with a new taste.

How to make tahini sesame paste

Ingredients:

• 400 g sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp. spoons of olive oil

Cooking algorithm:

• Pour 400 g of unroasted peeled sesame seeds with clean warm water (25-30 degrees) and leave for 4 hours to swell;-
• strain the sesame and put it in the refrigerator for the same period of time;
• put sesame seeds on a baking sheet and put in the oven at the lowest temperature;
• pour dried sesame seeds into a blender bowl;
• grind grains, starting from the smallest speed to bring to the highest;
• in the process of grinding, add 2 tbsp to the mass. olive oils.

Beat sesame seeds until a homogeneous paste-like consistency. After, decompose the mass into a glass container and send it to the refrigerator. Pasta can be stored for a long time.

Optionally, in the process of grinding the grains, you can add salt, paprika, lemon juice or other spices.

Recipes with sesame paste

There are many recipes for cooking meat and fish dishes with sesame paste. Pairs well with sesame fish. The tandem of these products gives an exquisite taste to the dish and increases its useful properties. Trace elements and vitamins are better absorbed.

Fish dressed with sesame paste

You can cook a dish of Far Eastern cuisine from any sea fish - hake, salmon. The delicacy is suitable as a main independent dish for lunch or dinner. Fish goes well with a side dish of mashed potatoes. It is recommended to cook samak bill tahini in the oven.

One serving contains 220 kcal. For 6 servings you will need:

• 500 g sea fish steaks;
• 100 g tahini;
• 1 medium carrot;
• onion head;
• 1 sweet pepper;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• squeezed juice from one lemon;
• parsley;
• salt, carmadon and freshly ground black pepper - to taste;
• cloves, zira, coriander, paprika, nutmeg - according to preferences;
• odorless vegetable oil for frying vegetables.

Cooking algorithm:

1. Prepare the fish fillet - wash and dry with a towel.
2. Mix nutmeg, paprika, coriander, cloves and cumin.
3. Heat the oven to 200 degrees, wipe each piece of fish with a mixture of spices and put in a pre-oiled mold. Send the contents to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Peel the vegetables, wash and cut into small slices and fry in a pan until golden brown.
5. Finely chop the greens, attach to the vegetables.
6. For sauce: dilute tahini with a little water. The mass should be of medium density. Add squeezed garlic, carmadon, lemon juice, a pinch of salt.
7. Take the fish out of the oven. Top with a layer of vegetables mixed with parsley. Top everything with sesame sauce.
8. Put in the oven for 15 minutes.
9. The finished dish can be sprinkled with finely chopped herbs, nuts, lettuce or circles of vegetables.

Chocolate cake with tahini

The cake rightfully occupies a leading position in baking recipes. A delicious delicacy can also be made healthy if cooked according to the recipe of the confectioner Stelios Parllaros. Greek dessert consists of 3 layers of unsalted butter, meringue and chocolate.

For the first version of the cream, you need tahini and sour cream, classic yogurt or cream, for the second - condensed milk, sugar and sesame paste. The cake turns out to be high-calorie - 300 kcal per serving. For 8 servings of dessert you need:

• 100 g unsalted butter;
• 5 chicken eggs;
• 200 g of granulated sugar;
• 2 cups of flour;
• 200 g of classic yogurt without additives, sour cream or cream;
• 1.5 cups of tahini;
• 200 g - dark dark chocolate;
• a pinch of table salt.

Manufacturing sequence:

1. Separate the whites from the yolks, beat them until stable (meringue) with half the sugar;
2. Melt 100 g of chocolate in a water bath, add butter to the mixture. Stirring constantly, bring the mass to a homogeneous consistency, remove from the stove and carefully introduce 5 yolks and salt;
3. Add some flour and beaten egg whites. The consistency of the dough should be like pancakes.
4. Divide the mass into 3 equal parts. Bake each cake in a round shape.
5. Heat the remaining 100 g of chocolate and pasta in a water bath;
6. Beat yogurt or sour cream with sugar. Mix ingredients.
7. Grease the finished cakes with cream. Place the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
8. You can decorate the dessert with fruits, chocolate or nuts.

Oriental pasta with a peculiar taste will help diversify the menu. This product will make any dish unique - from a simple vegetable salad to complex culinary masterpieces.

Two Delicious Eggplant and Tahini Appetizers + Homemade Tahini Recipe August 5th, 2014

Finally got around to making sesame paste at home, otherwise I was licking my lips at these wonderful oriental snacks, but there is nowhere to buy tahini ... or was I looking badly? In any case, now this question disappears by itself: cooking pasta at home is as easy as shelling pears, and it gives eggplant dishes a wonderful aroma and an interesting texture. For "Round 125. Eggplant II. Oriental dishes only" in gotovim_vmeste2 I wanted to look for something more interesting than baba ganoush, so I came up with an option with fried eggplant pieces in a thick tahini-based sauce. In general, I brought everything: both the pasta itself and the baba ganoush, and this is a wonderful dish that is currently my favorite on the eggplant menu.

Homemade tahini sesame paste

Tahini is a thick sesame paste made from toasted sesame seeds with olive oil. It is an important ingredient in many oriental dishes: without it, it is impossible to cook hummus, baba ganoush and other traditional delicacies of Israeli, Moroccan, Tunisian cuisine. There, sesame (sesame) paste is sold ready-made, but in our country it remains an exotic curiosity. But it is not at all necessary to look for it in specialized stores, because cooking tahini at home is a simple process, and buying sesame seeds is not a big deal.

Ingredients:
300 g raw white sesame seeds
4 tbsp refined olive oil

Cooking:
Store-bought tahina has a smooth, smooth texture, while home-made pasta is grainier with tiny bits of seeds, but that doesn't make it any less tasty and flavorful. However, most likely, a lot depends on the grinder.
The main thing is to choose the right sesame seeds and roast them well.

When buying raw sesame seeds for tahini, be sure to try a couple of seeds: chew them thoroughly and make sure they are not bitter. When grinding, even a slight bitterness will become very noticeable and spoil the taste.

For roasting, sesame seeds can be poured onto a baking sheet and sent to a well-heated oven for 15 minutes. During this time, you need to mix the seeds 2-3 times, which should eventually become light golden, but in no case overcook to a dark color.

Alternatively, you can toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, until golden brown.

Let the sesame seeds cool and pour the seeds into the bowl of the chopper (blender, food processor with the appropriate attachment). Start grinding: first, the seeds will begin to grind into pieces, then oil will stand out from them and the contents of the container will become like a paste.

Dry seeds will wander aimlessly around the bowl for quite a long time without visible changes. If this continues for a long time, as in my case, you can immediately add 2 tbsp. oil, and things will go faster.

Pour in the rest of the refined oil in a thin stream.

Since it acts as a base for many dishes, I use only sesame seeds and olive oil to make tahini, while salt, lemon juice and various spices can be added to it later depending on the recipe. If you plan to use tahini right away, you can add 1 tsp to it. unrefined sesame oil, the paste will become even more fragrant. But if you decide to cook a large amount of tahini and plan to keep it in the refrigerator for a long time, it is better not to add it.

Transfer the sesame tahini paste to a clean jar, seal tightly and store in the refrigerator.

Before use, its contents must be mixed, because after a while the thick sinks down, and the oil collects on top of the tahina.

Fried eggplants with nuts in tahini sauce

I think I have found my favorite eggplant dish, at least for this season. Amazingly delicious. Maybe someone will not share my enthusiasm, but I liked the fried eggplants in a thick tahini sauce with yogurt, mint, lemon juice and roasted nuts so much that there are simply no words! I want to eat them again and again. And cooking is easy.
Unlike pasty baba ganoush, here fried eggplants remain in the form of pieces, coated on all sides with a delicious sauce. In my opinion, this option is better. But why not cook both of these dishes to compare? The ingredients are practically the same.

Ingredients:
2 large eggplants
vegetable oil for frying
tahini sauce
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp thick natural yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
handful of walnuts
a few sprigs of parsley
a few sprigs of fresh mint
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Cooking:
First you need to prepare the eggplant: wash, cut into cubes with a side of 2 cm, put in a bowl and pour cold heavily salted water. Lightly press the eggplants with your hands so that the brine fills the pores, and leave for half an hour.

Pre-soaking is necessary not so much to remove bitterness (modern eggplant varieties are practically not bitter), but so that vegetables do not absorb too much fat during frying and do not spread into “porridge”.

Drain the brine, place the eggplant on paper towels and pat dry.
Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan, stirring until a strong nutty smell appears.
Peel the garlic and grate on a fine grater.
Wash the mint and parsley, dry, tear off the leaves and chop them coarsely.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat the vegetable oil strongly, spread the eggplant in small portions so that they cover the bottom in one layer, and fry until golden brown for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The fried eggplants should turn golden yellow and soften slightly, but never overcook them to lose their shape.

Put the finished eggplants in a deep bowl while the next batch is fried.

To prepare their tahini sauce, mix sesame paste with yogurt, lemon sauce, chopped herbs, grated garlic, salt and pepper. Lightly beat the mixture with a fork and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Pour the sauce into a bowl of hot fried eggplants, stir and let stand so that the heat of the herbs in the sauce reveal their flavor more. Before serving, sprinkle the dish with coarsely chopped walnuts, garnish with fresh herbs and a slice of lemon.

Fried eggplant in tahini can be served warm with fresh unleavened bread. But you can let the dish brew for a couple of hours and serve chilled. I liked the first option better.

babaganush

We recently hosted a wonderful Odessa food festival "Tsimes Market". Master classes, tastings, summer heat, Odessa dialect… a lot of impressions. So, I learned that baba ganoush, hummus and tsimes are authentic Odessa dishes, no matter what the Moroccans, Israelis, Tunisians and residents of various eastern countries say. Of course, in Odessa they know best how to cook them. Just kidding, of course, and I don't want to offend anyone. But these dishes in the Odessa interpretation are really interesting and tasty. Here, in fact, this is the end of a long introduction to the eggplant baba ganush recipe. However, it is quite classical: this is how this “overseas, eggplant caviar” is prepared in most Middle Eastern countries.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized eggplants
4 tbsp tahini paste
1 lemon
2-3 garlic cloves
3 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Cooking:
At the heart of this appetizer is a tender puree of the pulp of baked eggplant, supplemented with a large amount of tahini paste. And the necessary taste and aroma is achieved through additional ingredients: olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, garlic. Although I indicated the number of these products, everything is very conditional. Focus on your preferences: more or less garlic, lemon juice, oil - and baba ganoush will be perfect for you.

There are many ways to bake eggplant for baba ganoush. Of course, the best way to do this is on an open fire, placing the vegetables chopped with a fork on the grill over the coals. But you can get by with baking in the oven, and on an electric grill, and on a gas stove burner.

This time I baked eggplant in the oven. They need to be washed, often pricked with a fork so that the vegetables do not burst, put on a wire rack or baking sheet and sent to an oven preheated to 220 degrees for 30-50 minutes (depending on size).

If you are baking eggplant on a wire rack, it is better to substitute a baking sheet under it, as the juice will drip.

Ready eggplant should be easily pierced with a fork. Remove them from the oven, cool slightly, cut lengthwise into two halves and scrape out the flesh with a teaspoon or table knife with a round tip. Skins are not needed.
Chop the eggplant pulp with a large knife on a board until almost smooth.

You can grind them with a blender, but in this case, the baba ganoush will be completely creamy, which is not entirely correct. Bones are also sometimes removed, but I do not consider this necessary if there are not too many of them.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon, grate the garlic on a fine grater or pass through a press. In a container, mix sesame paste, lemon juice, 2/3 olive oil, garlic, pepper and salt, mix well.

Lemon juice is best added gradually to achieve the perfect sourness.

Season eggplant caviar, mix and let it brew for 1 hour.
Baba ganoush should be served by pouring the caviar with the remaining olive oil, with fresh pita bread or pita bread. You can complement the appetizer with olives and fresh herbs.

Bon appetit!