Today, I made Baba Ganouj. I have to admit something before I go any further. While I have eaten a fair amount of eggplant I have never bought or cooked one before today. I did, however, have a pretty good idea of what a ripe eggplant looked at felt like and if the end results mean anything I did a pretty good job picking this one.

I pulled this recipe out of a weight watchers cookbook and it comes in at surprisingly low caloric value since it forgoes the tahini that I found in most other recipes online. I made a few tweaks to the recipe–as I tend to do with most recipes, actually. Here follows my tweaked version:

1 eggplant, approximately 1 pound
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro [I forwent the chopping since it was going in the food processor anyway]
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Roast the eggplant on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil [sprayed lightly with cooking oil spray] in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or so [until soft on the inside and charred on the outside.] If roasting whole, be sure to poke vent holes and turn once or twice during cooking.
Let cool enough to handle then scrape the soft innards of the eggplant into your food processor or blender bowl. Add all other ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy [you’ll see I was left with a fair amount of cilantro flakes, I liked it like this]. Refrigerate until ready to eat, then enjoy with pita bread, pita chips, hearty bread or–our carbohydrate of choice tonight–Wheat Thins chips.
I’m not sure how long it will last in the fridge, but I suspect it won’t hang around long enough for us to find out. Weight Watchers called this 4 servings, your mileage may vary.