Brinjal with a bite: this dish makes eating your vegetables a pleasure

Aubergine, eggplant, brinjal — this delicious, versatile vegetable does not get the kudos it deserves.

Many are seemingly wary of preparing it — all that salting, letting the water drain out overnight. It all seems quite arduous.

To overcome my anxiety, I approached a Greek friend who is a great cook and master at bringing out the flavour in vegetables.. She made a sublime dish featuring brinjals, feta and garlic, then gave me Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty More, a recipe book dedicated to vegetables. I am grateful to now have had plenty of opportunities to try my hand at brinjal prep.

My mother cooked a lot of vegetables when we were little, but she was a more adventurous baker. We had salad at every meal other than breakfast and all of those who grew up in old-school homes know about the ever-present butternut, pumpkin, cabbage and spinach that was always a little grittier than I liked. As a child, I ate mud unprovoked, but did not like remnants of the vegetable patch in my cooked spinach.

My dearest father is most adventurous when it comes to food. He will try most things once. When we moved to Joburg he’d take us on adventures to China Town to sample “the best” tom yum soup and other delights my younger sister and I would tuck into with gusto. I am sure an eggplant passed my lips then, which is perhaps why this dish elicited nostalgia when I first tasted it.

My dear friend Fritzy is a man of flavour and finesse in the kitchen, and a fan of “aubs” (his nickname for aubergines), and boy, can he cook them.! He told me about a delicious eggplant stew that’s popular in his home country, Ghana.

Another friend, Lydia, introduced me to this dish.

Imagine fried aubergine, honey, chilli, spring onion. The dish is great warm, served on its own or as a side to fish or chicken.

Fear not, the prep is simple, the recipe easy and it's impressive when served. It makes eating your vegetables a pleasure.

Ingredients:

• 3 aubergines (more depending on numbers)
• 1 red chilli finely sliced
• ¼ cup of runny honey
• 2 spring onions
• ¼ cup of sunflower oil for batch frying
• Salt and pepper
• Pinch of cumin

Method:

• Cut the aubergines into bite-sized cubes.
• Salt and pepper them, then squeeze lightly in a towel to remove excess moisture.
• Sprinkle the cumin over them and mix to combine.
• Chop up the chilli and spring onion and set aside.
• Preheat the oil over medium to high heat in a large pan.
• When it is hot, batch-fry the aubergines until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
• Set aside on paper towel to drain excess oil.
• Pour out the oil and wipe the pan with paper towel.
• Pour in the honey and, over a low heat, bring it to bubbling point, then remove from the heat.
• Stir the honey through the aubergine until it is all coated.
• Pour the honeyed aubergine into a serving dish, sprinkle a little Maldon salt, then scatter the chilli and spring onion over it.

Wanted