Recipes
Eggplant and Spicy Tomato Stir-fry
This is my take on my mum’s sambal eggplant. I decided to add sun-dried tomatoes not only because it ups the anti-oxidant quotient but also because I love the sweet and smoky flavours imparted by these tomatoes to the dish.
SERVES 4-6
4 tablespoons canola oil
4 eggplants, halved lengthwise, and cut into thick slices
For the sambal paste:
1 jar / 280g sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained 20 shallots, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
10 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
8 chilli padi, de-stemmed
8 dried chillies, soaked in warm water, and seeded
100g dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, drained, and pounded roughly with a mortar and pestle or chopped
DIRECTIONS
- Heat 3 tablespoons of the canola oil in a wok and stir-fry the eggplant till fragrant—about 5 minutes. Set
aside. - In a food processor or blender, puree all of the sambal paste ingredients (sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, garlic, olive oil, sugar, fish sauce, tomato sauce, chilli padi and dried chilies) to a fairly smooth paste.
- In the same wok as was used earlier, heat 1 tablespoon of the canola oil and fry the paste till fragrant. Add the pounded shrimps and then, the eggplant. Stir in some water if it’s too dry. Mix well and serve.