Sweet and Sour Sesame Aubergines
Equipment
- 1 shallow baking dish ( 6 to 8 cm deep)
- 1 piece tin foil to cover your baking dish
Ingredients
- 750 g aubergines (we used 3 aubergines each about 15cm long)
- 25 g white sesame seeds
- 40 g ginger root, chopped into small 2mm dice (like match heads)
- 40 ml colza oil (or sunflower or vegetable or untoasted sesame)
- 70 ml mirin (or rice wine or chinese cooking wine)
- 100 ml brown rice vinegar
- 50 ml light soy sauce
- 40 ml Agave syrup (or brown rice syrup)
- 2 g dried chilli flakes (or to taste)
Instructions
- Top and tail the aubergines and cut each one into 3 rounds, about 5cm long. Cut a criss-cross or # effect about half a centimetre deep on the cut sides of each piece.
- Get a baking dish which will accommodate the aubergine pieces, cut side up, snugly. Sprinkle the base of the dish with salt, put the aubergine pieces in the dish, sprinkle the aubergines with a bit more salt and set them aside for half an hour
- Put the oven to 180C, Fan 160C, 350F, Gas 4.
- In a frying pan toast the sesame seeds until they start to splutter
- In a sauce pan mix the chopped ginger, oil, mirin/wine, vinegar, soy sauce, agave syrup and chilli flakes and bring to a simmer. Add the sesame seeds, stir and put it aside for a moment.
- With a towel or kitchen paper wipe the aubergine pieces dry, wipe out the baking dish dry, then put the aubergine pieces back in.
- Spoon some cooking liquid over the aubergines then pour in enough to come half way up the sides of the aubergines. if you have any liquor left, it makes a nice salad dressing when its cool.
- Cover the dish with foil and put into the oven for 30 mins
- Remove the foil and leave to bake uncovered for another 45 mins to an hour. Check at 45 minutes, we want the cooking liquor to be mostly absorbed, leaving a thin layer on the bottom of the baking dish, and the aubergines soft.
- Can be served straight-away, or warm, or ambient. We serve it with thai jasmine rice and green salad.