Coconut rice with spicy peanut sauce, crispy eggplant and scallion cilantro slaw

Ingredients #

• 1 large eggplant
• 150gr rice
• 175dl water
• 175dl coconut milk
• 2 limes
• 4 heaping tablespoons natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of sriracha
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey
• 3cm piece of ginger (grated)
• Small garlic clove (grated)
• 4 spring onions
• A bunch of cilantro
• Optional but HIGHLY recommended: chili crisp (you’ll find this jarred in any asian supermarket, it’s worth buying because you’ll want it on everything)

Method #

1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Drizzle some olive oil (say 4 tablespoons) on a baking tray, add a pinch of salt to it and grind some black pepper on it.

2. Cut your eggplant in 0.5cm thick slices and place them on the baking tray, massaging the olive oil into the slices. Eggplant is a thirrrrsty vegetable that will soak up oil like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t be fooled by this behavior, it doesn’t need to be entirely saturated, and the oil will be drawn out as you bake them in the oven.

3. Pop the tray into your preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Flip your eggplant slices half way through to make sure they’ll get crispppety on all sides.

4. Add your rice, coconut milk, water, some salt and half of a lime cut into a few chunks to a small pot with a fitting lid. The lime will add a gorgeous fragrance to your rice, and will be taken out once the rice is cooked, so no need to cutely chop it or anything (unless of course that’s your vibe today, in which case I love that for you).

5. Bring your rice up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, and simmer for about 15 minutes with the lid on. After 15 minutes turn the stove off and let the rice steam under the lid for an additional 5-10 minutes. Once it’s steamed you can fluff it up with a fork and fish your lime chunks out.

6. In the meantime prep your sauce + toppings. Grate your ginger and garlic clove in a small b owl. Then add your peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup (or honey), sriracha, and the juice of one whole lime. The peanut sauce will now probably have a rather thick (and frankly gross) consistency so just add a tablespoon of water at the time and stir it through until it is smooth and a bit runny.

7. Roughly chop your cilantro and scallions. Add them to a small bowl and mix them with the juice of half the lime you got left, plus some lemon zest.

8. Once your eggplant is superbly crispy and brown, and your rice is cooked (and, dare I say it, fluffed) you are ready to plate. Add a nice swirl of peanut sauce onto your plates, top it with your rice, a few slices of crispy eggplant and some tangy scallion/cilantro slaw. If you’ve managed to get your hands on chili crisp (again I cannot stress enough how much you need this condiment in your collection) add generous amounts of that on top and enjoy!