Temple aubergine with sweet chilli shrimp sauce

Name: Temple aubergine with sweet chilli shrimp sauce
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Laotian
Ingredients: 3 narrow violet or 2 regular aubergines; 2 tbsp dried shrimp, ground to powder; 1½ tbsp fish sauce; 3 tbsp lime juice; handful of chopped spring onion, fresh mint or fresh coriander; handful of chopped spring onion, fresh mint or fresh coriander; 2 tbsp dried shrimp, ground to powder; handful of chopped spring onion, fresh mint or fresh coriander; 3 cloves garlic; 2 tsp shrimp paste; 5 red birdseye chillies, chopped; 2 tbsp chopped shallots; groundnut oil; 5 dried mild red chillies; 2 tbsp finely chopped palm sugar or caster sugar; 2 tbsp finely chopped palm sugar or caster sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Food and Travels

By Alastair Hendy

Published 2004

About

You can either fry, roast or grill the aubergine. If roasted or grilled, the skin should be stripped off afterward and tossed away, and a Lao cook would pound the flesh to a paste (like babaganoush). Anything melting in the aubergine department is temple food for me, and - just-like-a-prayer - this’ll take you there. Monks love it too.

Ingredients

2 tsp shrimp paste
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp <

Asia
Laos
Fish course
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
South East Asia

Method

Wrap the shrimp paste in a small square of foil, squashing it flat, then toast in a dry hot pan for a few minutes. Pound the toasted shrimp paste with the garlic, shallots and chillies until pasty, then fry in 2 tbsp oil until it darkens a little. Stir in the sugar and bubble up until it starts to l