Ashamed as I am to admit it, I am a relatively new convert to Ottolenghi and his recipes. I've already bought a copy of Plenty More, his second vegetarian cookbook, as an early Christmas present to myself, but I'm still getting through recipes from Plenty, which was my first Ottolenghi purchase. I had come home from from the market with various fruits and vegetables, including eggplants, mangoes, and herbs which needed to be used up, and this soba noodle dish seemed perfect. I have never cooked with soba noodles and too be honest, I think any thin non-egg noodles would work just as well, perhaps even vermicelli.
Ingredients:
Sunflower oil for frying
2 eggplants, diced into 2cm cubes
300g soba noodles
1 large ripe mango, cut into cubes
1 cup basil leaves, chopped (if you can get some use Thai basil, but much less of it)
1 cups cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
Dressing:
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
Method:
1. First make the dressing. In a small pan, heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt, until the sugar has dissolved completely.
2. Add the garlic, chilli and sesame oil, and remove the pan from the heat.
3. Allow the dressing to cool, and once cooled, add the lime zest and juice.
4. While the dressing is cooling, shallow fry the eggplant in batches and drain on paper towels. As i try to avoid using too much oil, I lightly fried the eggplant, and then covered the pan to allow the eggplants to cook in the steam.
5. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions. I cooked mine in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes and then drained them and rinsed them well in cold water and allow the water to drain completely.
6. In a large boil, toss the noodles, eggplant, herbs, onion and dressing. Ideally you should let the salad sit for an hour or so, but I was in a rush and served it 10 minutes later. It still tasted great!
This is probably the first of quite a few Ottolenghi recipes I will be blogging, so stay tune!
Ingredients:
Sunflower oil for frying
2 eggplants, diced into 2cm cubes
300g soba noodles
1 large ripe mango, cut into cubes
1 cup basil leaves, chopped (if you can get some use Thai basil, but much less of it)
1 cups cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
Dressing:
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
Method:
1. First make the dressing. In a small pan, heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt, until the sugar has dissolved completely.
2. Add the garlic, chilli and sesame oil, and remove the pan from the heat.
3. Allow the dressing to cool, and once cooled, add the lime zest and juice.
4. While the dressing is cooling, shallow fry the eggplant in batches and drain on paper towels. As i try to avoid using too much oil, I lightly fried the eggplant, and then covered the pan to allow the eggplants to cook in the steam.
5. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions. I cooked mine in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes and then drained them and rinsed them well in cold water and allow the water to drain completely.
6. In a large boil, toss the noodles, eggplant, herbs, onion and dressing. Ideally you should let the salad sit for an hour or so, but I was in a rush and served it 10 minutes later. It still tasted great!
This is probably the first of quite a few Ottolenghi recipes I will be blogging, so stay tune!
Great minds think alike! We just bought ourselves Plenty More as an early Christmas gift too. :-)
ReplyDeleteJust this minute I'm eating a lentil and radicchio salad that Michael made from the book - it's another winner.
I feel a bit skeptical about pairing mango with eggplant but it looks good. What did you think of it?
It was delicious! The combination definitely works, and the dressing brings it all together. The only change I would make from the book is to reduce the amount of herbs, it's a bit too much, and overpowers everything else.
DeleteThat looks amazing. I love mango in recipes but never think you use it. I must. I bought my mother in law "Plenty More" for Christmas, such a beautiful book. I'm thinking of getting a copy.
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