Boiled Aubergine With Crispy Garlic, Dried Shrimp Served On Beansprouts

I don't know what happened lately that caused my home to be like pigeon nest. That's what my sister said to me LOL. I guessed what she meant was there's non-stop of guests at my home just like pigeons to their nests... hmmm... I don't know where she got that phrase from. Anyway, this situation tells me it's time to move to bigger space!So, tomorrow's going to be noisy and busy day but for tonight's dinner, I have left over of japanese aubergine (again... :-P). I bought a lot because the price was very cheap plus it's organic! Yesterday, I bought some juicy and crunchy beansprouts and some silken tofu (not sure what to do with the tofu yet.) Already, I baked and grilled the gorgeous small japanese aubergine aka Nasu. There's 1 method I didn't use for quite sometime - boiling. It's one of my mom's favourite ways dealing with aubergine besides charcoal roasting on top of her faithful portable terracotta stove with a small square opening at the base (I like making 'firework' with that stove LOL.)

With what I have from the fridge and short of time for dinner, this was what I came up with for quick yet light meal.

Boiled Aubergine With Crispy Garlic, Dried Shrimp Served On Beansprouts

Serves 2-4

2-4 nos Japanese Aubergines (Nasu)

5 cloves Garlic

10 g Dried Shrimps

100 g Beansprouts

1 nos Red Capsicum (Bell Pepper) or 1 Red Chilli

1 stalk Spring Onion

Some Shoyu or Light Soy Sauce

Some Oil

Method:

1. Washed the vegetables and toss them dry. Cut the aubergines into halves at last minute before boiling them. Slice the spring onions. Set aside.

2. Soak the dried shrimps to remove some saltiness for 1-2 minutes. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper and set aside.

3. Minced the garlic finely and chop the capsicum into

4. In a small pan, pour in 1/4 cup of oil and when it's hot add in the dried shrimps. Fry until fragrant and crispy. Remove and drain the excess oil with kitchen paper. Set aside.

5. In a pot, boiled some water with some salt. When it boils, add the beansprouts. Blanch the beansprouts for few seconds. Remove quickly and arrange on a serving dish/plate.

6. With same water, add in the aubergine halves and boil them until soften. Remove from pot and drain. Arrange aubergine halve on top of beansprouts.

7. Sprinkle the chopped capsicum and the fried dried shrimps on the boiled vegetables.

8. Now, this maybe a bit tricky... because you need to do fast before your garlic burnt.

In the pan that you fried the dried shrimp, add extra cooking oil; another 1/4 cup or just enough for the boiled vegetables. When oil is hot again, add in the minced garlic. Fry the garlic until fragrant and crispy but not burnt.

Remove the pan from heat and with the garlic crisps still frying in the oil, pour all the contents all over the boiled vegetable. Yep, the vegetables will sizzles, don't worry :-D

9. Sprinkle sliced spring onions and drizzle generous amount of light soy sauce. Sniff and enjoy with hot rice or or a bowl of noodles.

Note: If you can't find dried shrimps, you can substitute it with minced fried salted fish of your choice eg. bacalhau, dried whitebait (shirasu), dried anchovy...

This dish may sound difficult at first but once you got your own method to fry quickly and pouring the garlic oil over the vegetables, is easy and fast to make. To eat it just stir or mix the ingredients. You will notice that it's not oily at all. I love the gravy with plain white rice. :-)

Enjoy!