Here is another recipe from my Lao Experiences cooking class, eggplant dip! I found Lao cuisine to be amazing! I’m a huge fan of Asian food in general, but Lao is near the top of my list I think. Flavorful, but also mellow enough that I could eat it all the time. Lots of herbs, fresh ingredients, and when I say mellow, I don’t mean not spicy. The food is SPICY!!! I was not expecting for anything to be too spicy since it has been so long since any dish has been too spicy for me. But I was totally mistaken. Wow the chilis are so hot and they use so many! I had a big moment where I was guzzling beer and breathing hard for a good 5 minutes after only a bite or two of an especially spicy noodle salad.
Anyways, dips are a common side dish that you eat with glutinous rice (which is eaten a staple eaten at every meal). It is really sticky and you eat it with your hand by grabbing a little and rolling it into a ball. Then you dip it in to the dip. Amazing!
Instead of fish sauce, I used fermented soybeans.
5 little eggplants (in Laos they have these little green eggplants, but I only had little purple and it tasted great)
4 garlic cloves unpeeled
2 chilis
1/2 tablespoon fermented soybean
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
1 green onion green part only chopped
Salt
- Skewer the eggplant, garlic and green chilis and grill on a bbq or put under the broiler. Turn every few minutes until the skin on the eggplant is charred and the flesh soft, about 10 minutes. Peel the garlic and eggplant. Cut the little hard piece off the garlic.
- Pound the garlic, chilis and fermented soybeans using a mortar and pestle. Add the eggplant and continue to pound. Add the cilantro and green onions and pound until mixed. Salt to taste.
- Eat with sticky rice. Yum!