A belated post from early Summer...
We went for dumplings on blågardsplads the other day - at a place we discovered either before or after a hospital appointment (silver linings). A place (think it’s called gao) that I love - they have two different kinds of vegetarian dumplings (mushroom pan fried and spinach steamed), both equally delicious; plus a long list of veggie sides that are all simple but perfect... sage loved them too. Anyway, while there remembered about the great fruit and veg shops also on blågards, checked them out too, and discovered a box of Pakistani mangoes! The delicate south Asian mangoes are way superior to the thick-skinned African ones you usually find in supermarkets - the one thing that could convince me to go to India in monsoon season... I had just been thinking maybe it was the season, but couldn’t think where was the right shop to find them...
I made
this salad first about this time last year, when sage was tiny. I remember feeling proud i’d managed to cook something proper, especially because it was from a cookbook Seb gave me for my birthday (ie a few days after sage was born). Aside from eating them straight up, this seemed like a suitably special way to use some of our fine box of mangoes. This time, sage ate it too (and liked it! Although think he preferred the vegan sausages we ate with it (didn’t have any tofu)).
120 ml rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
40 g sugar
½ tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lime, grated zest and juice
300 ml sunflower oil
2 aubergines, cut into 2 cm dice
300g soba noodles
½ red onion, thinly sliced
1 large mango, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
40g basil, chopped
40g coriander, chopped
In a saucepan, gently heat the vinegar, sugar and salt, just until
the sugar dissolves, for up to a minute. Remove from the heat and add
the garlic, chilli and sesame oil. Set aside to cool, then add the lime
zest and juice.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan and shallow-fry the aubergine
in three or four batches. Once golden-brown, transfer to a colander,
sprinkle liberally with salt and leave to drain.
Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling, salted water, stirring
occasionally, for five to eight minutes - the noodles should retain a
bite - then drain and rinse under cold water. Shake off the excess water
and place on kitchen towel to dry.
In a mixing bowl, toss the noodles with the dressing, aubergine,
onion, mango and half the herbs. You can leave it aside for an hour or
two. When ready to serve, add the rest of the herbs, mix and pile on a
plate or in a bowl.
