Heya all you fun middle eastern food loving folks! I've noticed that many people out there confuse the arabic dish Baba Gannouj with another dish called M'tabbal. The recipie posted yesterday for Baba Gannouj is actually a dish called M'tabbal. mashed roasted eggplant with sesame seed paste is actually M'tabbal. For simplicity (and pronounciation) sake, middle eastern restaurants call this dish Baba Gannouj, so many americans don't know the difference.....Well, I am about to post the REAL recipie for Baba ghannouj, I am of syrian descent and obtained this recipe from my aunt....here we go:

2 eggplant
2 cloves of garlic (mashed)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2-3 tbps finely chopped parsely
2-3 tbps olive oil
2-3 tbps pomegranet sauce (can be found in any mid east store..the arabic term for this sauce is Dibbis Rimmman. Just ask the clerk for a bottle of this and they'll give it to you :) )
salt to taste
1/2 cup finely diced tomatoes
1/2 cup finely diced green pepper

Begin by roasting the eggplant in the oven. Place the eggplants on the top rack of the oven and set the oven on high broil. Leave the eggplant in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (depending on what kind of oven you have, gas or electric will vary) you want the skin to be "crispy". Turn the eggplant to the other side and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes. Remove eggplant from the oven and allow to cool

When the eggplant is done, peel the skin away, and place in a large bowl. Mash the eggplant untill it has a creamy texture, add the 2 cloves of mashed garlic. Stirr in walnuts and parsely. Add 2 tbps olive oil. To add the pomegranet Sause, start by stiring in 2 tbps of the liquid and taste. If you want more pomegranet sauce, then add another tablespoons. Alot of the dishes from the mid east depend more on the "taste" and not so much on measurement. Repeat witht he salt, start by adding 1 tsp salt, and add more to taste. Finally stirr in tomatoes and diced green pepper. Chill in refrigerator untill ready to serve.

:)