Recipe: Cold Steamed Silken Aubergine
I picked up a bowl of small, round, taut and shiny aubergines for £1 from my local market and knew exactly how I wanted to cook them.
There is a particularly iconic Sichuan dish called fish–fragrant aubergine. Readers of Fuchsia Dunlop’s recipes will be familiar with it. Though it has nothing to do with fish, it is indeed fragrant, with a piquancy from the use of doubanjiang and Chinese black vinegar. I wanted to make a variation that was much healthier and with less emphasis on the famous Sichuan spiciness.
The original recipe calls for a fair bit of oil to fry the aubergine, but my favourite, lesser known cooking technique is to steam them. For the sauce, I used the fish–fragrant formula as a base, substituting the chilli bean paste for the lightness and sweetness of shiro miso. Then it was a case of steeping the aubergine in the sauce, refrigerating, and eating later as a cold side dish. You can actually make this dish entirely oil free; I found that a drizzle of sesame oil sufficed.
The result? Silky soft texture, flesh slightly disintegrated with the sauce, full of umami yet not heavy. Tastes better after a day in the fridge!
Let me know if you try this recipe and share your results on Instagram with #CelestialPeach.
Also: did you know? In Chinese Traditional Medicine aubergine is considered a ‘yin’ food with ‘cooling’ properties (i.e. good for eradicating toxins) — and a perfect summer vegetable dish.
Ingredients
Around 1kg aubergines
For the sauce
1 tbsp shiro miso
200ml water
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch white pepper
1 tbsp black vinegar
To garnish
2 mild chillies, finely sliced (optional)
1 tbsp sesame oil OR extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Spring onions, sliced diagonally, and sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions (serves 4-6 as a side)
Cut the aubergines into evenly sized pieces, either lengthways or horizontally.
Steam the aubergines for 20 mins.
Meanwhile, whisk all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan while bringing to the boil. After around 10 minutes the sauce will have caramelised. Set aside.
Lay the pieces of aubergine in a large, flat dish and pour over the sauce. Eat immediately or let it cool before refrigerating and eating cold.
Garnish with some finely chopped chillies, a drizzle of oil, sesame seeds and spring onions.
