Name: Spicy Eggplant (Terung Balado)
Yield: Makes 4 servings as part of a multicourse meal
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 teaspoon coriander seeds or ground coriander; 2 teaspoons sugar; 4 small Asian shallots or 2 large European shallots, chopped; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; 4 medium-hot finger-length red chilies, such as Fresno, cayenne, or serrano, seeded (optional) and chopped, or 2 tablespoons sambal oelek; 2 red bird’s eye chilies or Thai chilies, stemmed, seeded, and chopped (optional); 4 makrut lime leaves; Juice of 1 key lime; 1 small red bell pepper, chopped; 1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and bruised; 1 large tomato, chopped; 1 lb (450 g) Chinese eggplant or Japanese eggplant, cut into 2-inch (5-cm) batons and patted dry; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for greasing and drizzling, divided; 1 (½-inch/12-mm) slice galangal

Preparation info

Makes
4
servings as part of a multicourse meal

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Mortar and Pestle

By Patricia Tanumihardja

Published 2024

About

The spicy sauce in this recipe is technically a sambal, and this dish is a great example of how versatile a sambal can be! It’s not just a condiment but can be used as a flavoring paste as well. While you can cook many foods the “balado” way, eggplant is my favorite. I try to use Asian varieties of eggplant, which contain fewer seeds than Italian globe eggplants and are less bitter. Chinese (light purple) or Japanese (dark purple) eggplant have thin skins and don’t necessarily have to be sa