Chinese eggplant salad

I am a big fan of eggplants and I like to eat them in any cuisine. Roasted eggplants are popular in Indian and Middle eastern/Turkish cuisine. This is a recipe using roasted eggplants from Ken Hom's Vegetarian Cookery book. The long pale purple Chinese eggplants are perfect for this dish since they do not have too many seeds. The roasted eggplants are peeled and dressed to make a wonderful cold salad with a pungent dressing.

This salad makes a delicious first course to an Asian meal - and the best part is that it is quick and can be made in advance. It tastes good both cold and at room temperature. I prefer to serve it at room temperature especially when it is cool outside like it is now.

Chinese eggplant salad

Chinese eggplants

3 long Chinese eggplant (about 1 1/2 lbs)

Dressing
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
2 1/2 teaspoon sesame chili oil
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely sliced scallions (1 scallion)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the eggplants onto a baking sheet and place the sheet on the center rack of the oven. Cook for 30 minutes or so until the eggplants look brown and the skin has shrivelled. (If the eggplants are thin they will take less time to cook - if left in the oven for a long time, they will burst and the insides will splatter. Hence it is important to monitor the roasting process). After 15 minutes turn the eggplants so that they cook on all sides  and the skin is easy to remove. Let the eggplants cool on the baking sheet. Once cool, remove the skin and cut the flesh lengthwise into 2 inch pieces. Arrange them onto a serving platter.
2. In the meantime, mix all the ingredients for the dressing and drizzle it evenly on the roasted eggplants.

Serves 3