This week’s recipe is for fried aubergine with chilli and salad onions from the September 2007 issue of Waitrose Food Illustrated. It’s a vegetarian dish by guest chef Simon Hopkinson.

Fried Aubergine with Chilli and Salad Onions

A surprisingly rich vegetable dish here, considering the relatively restrained ingredients. Perhaps it is down to the remarkable capacity that the aubergine has to soak up oil while being cooked - no bad thing, in this case. This remains one of the nicest sweet/sour dishes I know.

SERVES 4

PREPARATION: 15 MINUTES, PLUS 1 HOUR DEGORGING

COOKING: 20 MINUTES

500g Aubergine, cut into 2.5cm cubes

50ml Vegetable oil

1 tbsp Sesame oil

3tbsp Rice vinegar

2 tbsp Ginger syrup (taken from a jar of stem ginger)

2 tbsp Soy sauce

1 Salad onion, finely shredded lengthways

1 tbsp Fresh root ginger, grated

1 tsp Dried chilli flakes

1.5 tbsp Chopped coriander

[NB This is a British recipe so a tablespoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml].

Sprinkle the aubergine with salt, then, using your hands, mix together in a colander. Leave to drain for 45 minutes to 1 hour, then rinse in a sink of cold water. Drain, tip onto some kitchen paper and carefully pat dry.

Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan until smoking and fry the aubergine briskly for about 10 minutes, until well coloured. Lift out onto a double layer of kitchen towel to drain. Pour the sesame oil, vinegar, ginger syrup and soy sauce into the pan; allow to bubble, then put the aubergines back in. Cook gently, stirring carefully, for 5 minutes. Add the salad onion, ginger, chilli and coriander. Cook for another 2 minutes, then allow to cool a little in a dish before serving.

Per serving: 224 kcals; 17.4g fat (2.3g saturated fat); 1.3g salt; 12.8g sugars.

Road Test

A note on ingredients: I used Chee Seng Oil Factory sesame oil, Tung Chun chinese vinegar and Chain Kwo golden label light superior soy sauce, all from supermarkets in Chinatown. The aubergine (eggplant), salad onion, dried chilli and vegetable oil were standard supermarket ingredients. I did not have fresh coriander so I substituted 1 tbsp of dried coriander, on the based that dried herbs are stronger than fresh. I could only find crystallised ginger so I put soaked half a dozen pieces in hot water to create a syrup.

Method: The instructions were very clear but I made two modifications. Firstly I dispensed with degorging (the process of salting aubergine to draw out bitter juices). This is usually entirely unnecessary as most modern varieties of aubergine were not bitter. My other modification was to use a wok rather than a non-stick frying pan.

Results: This tasted fantastic. I served it with basmati rice with walnuts. The recipe was intended to serve four but only stretched to three serves. It was very moreish and we could have easily eaten the entire dish between two, but moderation prevailed.

Verdict

The aubergines were tender and tasty with a full, meaty flavour. The rice and walnuts made a good accompaniment. I will definitely make this again. Next time I will make a special effort to obtain fresh coriander as I believe this would improve the dish hugely. I may also fiddle around with the oil to make it more diet friendly - Simon Hopkinson says the capacity of aubergine to soak up oil is “no bad thing” but I’m not convinced. Aubergine soaks up flavour but fat is not the only way to add flavour.