This Sesame Eggplant recipe is a fun twist on baba ghanoush, but served as a vegan entree or even as an appetizer. Roasting makes the eggplant flesh soft and silky, while the sesame seeds coating the slices toast up nicely releasing their rich flavor.
I wanted to do a little something different with my eggplant this time. Sesame Crusted Eggplant with Lemon and Garlic is what I came up with. I guess you could say it is sort of a cutlet form of baba ganoush, but obviously the results are quite different, hence baba ga"not".
The recipe is really quite simple, and although the sesame seeds do end out creating almost a form of breading, they are merely sprinkled on the top. Through the roasting process they end out adhering to the eggplant, and provide a fun texture to the dish.
Serve with pita or crusty bread. Other Middle eastern dishes would pair well with this sesame eggplant such as hummus, tabouli or labnah. My artichoke white bean dip or spinach pie rolls would also go nicely on a platter with this eggplant dish.
If you like this, check out my Grilled Eggplant Parmesan, Eggplant Casserole and Roasted Carrot Hummus.
Sesame Crusted Eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup raw sesame seeds*
- toasted sesame oil for drizzling
- lemon zest
Instructions
- Cut off the ends of the eggplant, and slice the skin off in strips leaving a roughly 1 inch section of skin between each slice. The slice into cutlets about ½ an inch thick.
- Whisk together the oil, lemon juice and salt. Chop the garlic an stir in, then baste the eggplant with it, use all of it, but don't just dump it on, the eggplant will absorb it too FAST.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Arrange the eggplant slices on baking sheet. Sprinkle ½ the sesame seeds on top, then gently flip the slices over (most of the seeds will either stick or land under the eggplant and adhere during baking). Sprinkle with remaining seeds.
- Roast for 20 minutes, then flip and roast for about 20 more.
- Plate the eggplant slices, then top with a drizzle of sesame oil and some fresh lemon zest.
Notes
Nutrition
Penelope (NYC Blogger) says
Look how yummy that is! I love eggplant and sesame seeds too.
Kirsten says
Robin,
Thanks for this recipe! I've added it to the Farm Fresh Feasts Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who love to eat from the farm share.
I appreciate your help in making this index better!
Tonia says
This sesame eggplant went well with hummus, olives and pita as a light vegetarian platter. Our friends loved it!
Kara says
Helps texture and flavor if you soak in salt water for one hour after slicing, then draining and patting dry before you move to the next steps. It will make a HUGE difference. You'll love it!