Eggplant + Green Mango Salad

What do you get when you cross the mentalities of Vietnamese green mango, Greek pan-fried eggplant and a Thai dressing? This happy conglomerate of a salad.

When living in Newtown I frequently endured sad days of having very little food, however, if there was ever an eggplant in the house there was always a meal. Versatile, robust, damn good. It’s saved my hungry butt on many occasions; a symbol of hope and prosperity in financially dark times. My eggplant repertoire is vast and beautiful.

My friend Andrew graced my humble, ethnic hands with some green mangoes and some of his mum’s homemade chili salt the other day after I was banging on about how great it was eating it all the time in Bangkok (get a load of this white guy over here) so to pay tribute to my classic whatever’s in the fridge plus eggplant style of cooking I combined the two. Apologies to all of the traditional dishes that just got owned by my bastardised cooking but I promise it really is fresh and nice and all of those good things. This serves 2 or more mash-up hungry friends.

Eggplant + Green Mango Salad
(an original recipe)
1 eggplant, diced
1 green mango
2 tbs sesame seeds
3 tbs sesame oil

Dressing
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp fish sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of chili salt (optional)

1. Peel the green mango and slice into thin strips. Alternatively if you have one of those cool graters that does the job for you, use that. Place in fridge to cool.
2 Heat sesame oil in a large pan on high heat. Add eggplant and continue to toss until nicely browned and tender (around 5-10 minutes). Add some extra oil if required.
3. In a smaller pan lightly toast sesame seeds until browned slightly. Transfer into a bowl to cool.
4. Combine all dressing ingredients to taste. In a bowl toss eggplant, sliced mango and half of the sesame seeds. Add dressing to taste, toss and transfer to plate. Garnish with remaining sesame seeds.

With eggplant comes great responsibility versatility. Never forget.