I was in London a few weeks ago and had this amazing sticky sweet Aubergine( eggplant to all my state side friends ). It was love at first bite. Ever since, I’ve been concocting ideas of how to replicate it. But as in my own style , I needed to add in a little heat. Tonight I played around with this and it worked . I imagine this on kebab sticks popped over a grill would work great too, add some charred goodness to the mix ! Will try that out soon.
The Carrot Salad I’ve been making for a while , but it’s a old favourite keeping it raw too always makes for a refreshing feast. I love my Spiralizer for adding texture to a dish. Granted I’m a litte obsessed with it at times but here it works specially with the Diakon, this Japanese radish is alot milder than the type of Radish I grew up with so it’s delicate heat works here. Garam Masala has to be one of the sexiest spice blends in the world I love adding it to salad dressing !
Recipe :
Sticky Harissa Aubergine :
1 Aubergine / Egg plant
2 tbs Maple Syrup
2 Tsp Harissa
1 Red Pepper
Soy sauce (or Tamari or Shoyu)
Oil of choice
To serve : Wraps , Red cabbage , sprinkle of Parsley
Carrot salad with Garam Masala :
1 Large carrot
1/2 large Diakon.
1 tbs Maple syrup
2 limes zest and juice
1 tbs Grape seed oil (or any flavorless one)
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
Peel the Aubergine and chop into a little bigger than a 1cm dice. Pop in a bowl with the Harissa and 1 tbs Maple syrup and about a tsp oil (I used avacado ). Mix everything in and let that sit and soak for a while. Give the Pepper a chop as you wait.
At this point I made the Salad too. I put the Carrot and Diakon through the spiralizer, but you can grate them too! Then made the dressing with the remaining ingredients and a sprinkle of salt. Toss that all together.
Now that the Aubergine is all soaked up (seriously it’s like a sponge ) heat some oil in a NON Stick pan. This has alot of sugar in and you need a non stick! I used Avacado oil as I wanted this hot ** Once it was hot I threw in the Aubergine Pepper and a dash of Shoyu and gave everything a good stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Once it was tender and hot it was ready to go! At this point I took it out of the pan and did the final sticky end with the last tbs of Maple syrup. Sticky sweet and spicy.
I served this with Wraps Parsley and a side of Red Cabbage.
** always be careful to use an oil with a high smoke point when cooking at high temperatures.
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