Terung sambal

In my ongoing quest to make aubergine taste a bit less pants, I think I've found a winner. Enter terung sambal, or Malaysian spiced aubergine. This very simple recipe is essentially just fried or roasted aubergine, covered in oodles of tasty spice paste, thus obliterating the taste of the aubergine - result! If you want to enjoy (?) more of the natural flavour of the aubergine, just go a little easier with the spice paste.

Recipe

2 tsp oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced chilli or sambal olek
1 tsp minced lemon grass
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 large aubergine or several small aubergines
Oil for frying

First, make the sambal. In a small saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, chilli, lemon grass and shrimp paste. Cook 6-7 minutes, until the mixture has softened and started to turn brown. Add the sugar and soy sauce and cook 1 minute more, then take off the heat and set aside.

Slice the aubergine into thick strips or rounds, and either deep fry, shallow fry, or toss in oil and oven-bake. (Basically, cook that sucker however you like.)

Smear the cooked aubergine with the sambal, and serve warm or at room temperature with any extra sambal on the side.

Serves: 2-3
Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes to make the sambal, plus aubergine cooking time