Roasted Eggplant “Hummus" ♥ (Eggplant & Chickpea Dip & Spread)

Roasted Eggplant Hummus ♥ AVeggieVenture.com, eggplant, chickpeas & Greek yogurt in an addictive, ultra smooth and creamy dip and spread. Low Carb. Weight Watchers friendly.
graphic button small size size 10 An addictive mix of roasted eggplant and chickpeas, a dip, a spread, a sauce, a scoop-it-by-the-spoonful-straight-from-the-fridge somethin'. It's the result of a happy accident, a last-minute leaving-on-vacation decision to throw separate batches of hummus and baba ganoush into the food processor together. Together. My notes from that day call it "Smoothest, Creamiest Most Amazing Hummus Ever" with three exclamation points. Three!!! And almost three years later? Ever since, I make it this way on purpose! Quick & easy. Low Carb. Weight Watchers friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. graphic button small size size 10

There's just one thing hard about today's extra-special recipe: what to call it.

graphic button small size size 10 IS IT HUMMUS? Well, technically "no" since hummus means "chickpeas" – and even though it does call for chickpeas, it has no tahini and the texture is much much lighter and smoother than hummus, airy, almost.
graphic button small size size 10 IS IT A DIP and a SPREAD? Yes! It's so easy to use as a dip with vegetables raw and cooker, even potato chips. Yes! It's fabulous spread on sandwiches, a sort of garlicky mayonnaise.
graphic button small size size 10 IS IT A MUST-MAKE? YES! Finally, an easy answer! For Thanksgiving, it can serve a dual purpose, a dip for veggies on the big Turkey Day and a spread for leftover turkey sandwiches afterward.

Roasted Eggplant Hummus ♥ AVeggieVenture.com, eggplant, chickpeas & Greek yogurt in an addictive, ultra smooth and creamy dip and spread. Low Carb. Weight Watchers friendly.

I've looked through several middle-eastern cookbooks to see if there's some name. Surely I'm not the first to invent this combination of roasted eggplant and chickpeas? Anyone know what this is? Anyone?

Here's how I've been using it:
graphic button small size size 10 Spread on bread or toast, an excellent mayonnaise substitute; a peanut butter substitute; just for its own goodness.
graphic button small size size 10 Drizzled over chicken kabobs.
graphic button small size size 10 Spread on Jerusalem Turkey Burgers with Zucchini.
graphic button small size size 10 In an appetizer "threesome" with Crazy-Good Crazy-Smooth Hummus plus either Roasted Roma Tomatoes or an artichoke tapenade.
graphic button small size size 10 In a meze plate along with smoked trout or gravlax, some pickles, a few olives, some fruit.
graphic button small size size 10 Drizzled over vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli, steamed or roasted or grilled.
graphic button small size size 10 Drizzled over sautéed spinach or kale.
graphic button small size size 10 Tossed with poached or fried eggs or spooned like hollandaise sauce over Eggs Benedict.

WORD DANCERS In Arabic, "hummus" means "chickpeas" not "chickpeas mashed with tahini, garlic and a little oil". In deference, I call this recipe Roasted Eggplant "Hummus" – hummus in quotes.

RECIPE for ROASTED EGGPLANT "HUMMUS"
(Eggplant-Chickpea Dip & Spread)

Hands-on time: 15 minutes over 90 minutes
Time to table: 12 - 24 hours
Makes 3 cups

ROASTED EGGPLANT
1 small eggplant, 16 ounces or a little bigger

HUMMUS
1 small garlic clove
A generous 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
271 grams cooked dried chickpeas, cooked especially for hummus
10 tablespoons (140g) 0% Greek yogurt (we're Fage fans!)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

ROASTED EGGPLANT Set oven to 400F/200C. Prick the whole eggplant with the tip of a knife, set on top of a baking sheet and roast for an 60 - 90 minutes, until interior flesh turns soft and creamy, the best clue is that the skin gets soft and the eggplant begins to deflate. Let cool, cut in half lengthwise. If there are obvious strips of seeds which will roughly separate, great, pull them off and discard; otherwise, scrape the flesh off the skin and discard the skin. Let cool a bit.

HUMMUS In a food processor, process the garlic, salt and white pepper by themselves, just to get the garlic chopped up. Add the chickpeas and process until very smooth, scraping down the sides as needed; take a little time here, you want to get the chickpeas as smooth as you can on their own. Now add the Roasted Eggplant and process, again until very smooth. Really work these two together, from here on, it won't really be possible to really get into the meat of the chickpeas. Add the yogurt and process until smooth. While the food processor is running, drizzle the oil down into the feeding tube, adding just a little at a time. The mixture will expand in volume like mayonnaise. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, knowing the flavors will continue to develop and sharpen.

REFRIGERATE Transfer to a glass container (better than plastic) and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
graphic button small size size 10 CANNED CHICKPEAS? I'm going to say, um, no. Some measure of the creamy texture here comes from dried chickpeas whose skins have been tenderized with baking soda. To achieve that, you have cook your own chickpeas like this, How to Cook Dried Chickpeas Especially for Hummus aka "Jerusalem Chickpeas". You won't regret it ... but you will need to plan a little ahead. My own rhythm is to do the chickpeas and the eggplant on one day, then mix this Roasted Eggplant Hummus and my Crazy-Good, Crazy-Smooth Hummus the next.
graphic button small size size 10 EGGPLANT If your eggplant weighs two pounds, say, which is more typical at least in my grocery stores, just plan to use half the roasted interior flesh.
graphic button small size size 10 THOSE PESKY EGGPLANT SEEDS The fewer the seeds, the prettier the color will be. But I've come to accept a sort of grayness and appreciate the slight texture the seeds add.
graphic button small size size 10 GARLIC It's easy to get carried away with the garlic here, a little goes a long way. I've settled on a small clove, maybe a half teaspoon if it were minced. And when you first mix it, you'll wonder if you should've used more, know that the garlic flavor develops after a few hours in the fridge.
graphic button small size size 10 OIL-FREE? In my last batch, I tasted the mixture before adding the oil and realized that I might be happy with some less olive oil, perhaps none at all. So give it a taste beforehand, see what you think. My tastebuds have been spoiled, I'm not fooling with something I love so much. :-)



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A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Very delicious and healthy.!!
    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. This sounds amazing, and since I recently acquired a new Cuisinart food processor, this recipe is being made tonight! However, I am a bit confused about the lack of tahini here. In your explanation of how this recipe came about, you said you had mixed separate batches of hummus and baba ganoush together. Assuming you used your own recipes for the hummus and baba ganoush (the ones on your site use tahini), this recipe must have originally had tahini in it. Why did you decide to leave it out? When I make it, I'll probably add it as I really like the flavor. Can't wait to try this out! :-)

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  3. Rebecca ~ Congrats on your new food processor! Since I’m getting your question the “next day” you may already have decided to use the tahini. Two reasons I don’t use tahini here. The first is because I love the Eggplant “Hummus” so much as is! The texture is soft and almost mayonnaise-y (though smoother and not clumpy like commercial mayonnaise). If I were to use tahini in the Eggplant Hummus, however, I’d substitute tahini for the oil, then adjust to taste. The second reason is that I usually make Eggplant Hummus to serve side-by-side with my Crazy-Smooth Crazy-Good Hummus (I’ll add the link above) which does call for tahini and is much more like a traditional hummus except, yes, crazy smooth. :-) Hope this helps, can’t wait to hear how your version turns out!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna