All around the great mediterranean, and even further east this dish is known, made from the same basic ingredient: a grilled eggplant… something you can achieve in the oven, on a barbeque or even an open fire (the smokey flavour
is a bonus). There are many variants of the dish since it is found in many cultures. Depending to your taste you can add tahini, garlic, salt and lemon juice, perhaps cumin and pepper; mint, parseley, toasted sesame seeds to garnish and a dash of virgin olive oil drizzled on top. This will make you a fine traditional Baba.

Other variations can be found with origins from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Persia, the Levant, Lebanon, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
West India. You can eat Baba mixed with a garden salad, with roti or naan
(the version with chopped tomatoes and onion as an ingredient instead of tahini), or use it as a spread on toast or bread. Whatabout a pizza Baba ?

 
1 grilled eggplant
1 pizza quattro formaggi
100 grams of shrimp
chilipowder
perhaps a little bit of garlic
pine nuts
basil
virgin olive oil

Grill the eggplant until it starts to collapse. Peel the skin of and ‘tear’ the eggplant, the seedy parts are not so nice to use, there is a slightly bitter taste to it. The oven is now also perfectly preheated, so pop in a pizza with four cheeses — depending on your time and skill, make it completely fresh or use a deepfrozen product. Bake it light until the cheese melts, layer it with the eggplant and grill shortly. Spread the shrimps on top, dust them with chilipowder, when you like some garlic, and sprinkle some pine nuts on your pizza. Once again pop in into the oven untill the shrimps are nicely grilled and the nuts have been roasted. Garnisch with fresh basil and drizzle the pizza with some olive oil.