Wichet Khongphoon’s vegan laab aubergine recipe

You can make most of the elements of this dish ahead of time and reheat them as needed.

Serves 5
aubergines 5
mint leaves 20
red shallots 2, thinly sliced
cooked sticky or jasmine rice to serve
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For the sauce
palm sugar 40g
soy sauce 75ml (preferably gluten-free)
water 50ml
tamarind water 100ml (see note)
lime juice 15ml

For the roasted aromatic ground rice
sticky rice 25g, uncooked
jasmine rice 25g, uncooked
galangal 1 tsp finely sliced
kaffir lime leaves 2
lemongrass 1 tsp, finely sliced

For the crispy shallots
vegetable oil 500g
shallots 100g, thinly sliced
dried bird’s eye chillies 10

Run the tip of a sharp knife all the way from top to bottom of the aubergines. Grill the aubergines till they are soft – do not worry if the skins are burnt, this will add smoky flavour. Once they are ready, remove the aubergines from the grill and place them in a deep bowl and cover with clingfilm for 10 minutes. When the skin has softened and they’re cool enough to handle, peel off the skin.

For the sauce, heat the palm sugar, soy sauce, water and tamarind water on medium heat. Bring the mixture to boil, then remove it from the heat to cool a little and add the lime juice. The sauce should taste sour, salty and a little sweet.

For the roasted ground rice, dry fry the sticky rice and jasmine rice on a very low heat for 10 minutes then add the galangal, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. Keep stirring till all the herbs and rice turn golden. Leave to cool then grind to fine powder.

For the crispy shallots and chillies, heat the oil to a medium heat. To test if the oil is ready, drop a small piece of shallot into the oil. If it floats and does not burn immediately, that means it’s ready. Gently sprinkle the sliced shallots into the heated oil, add a pinch of salt, and keep stirring until it all becomes golden. Use a slotted spoon to remove the shallots from the oil and spread them on kitchen roll to drain. In the same oil, add the bird’s eye chillies and keep stirring. It will take just 30 seconds to crisp the chillies, then remove them to the kitchen roll.

To serve, if you prepared the aubergines and sauce in advance, reheat the aubergines under the grill and reheat the sauce. Cut each aubergine into 6 chunks, place them on a shallow plate and dress with all the tamarind sauce. Crush half of the crispy chillies, then sprinkle on top of aubergines. Tear the mint and sprinkle over aubergines. Sprinkle with the raw sliced red shallot. Sprinkle over all the ground rice powder, then top with the crispy fried shallots and remaining fried chilli. Serve with sticky rice or jasmine rice.

Note To make tamarind water, combine 100g tamarind pods with 500ml water and boil for 5 minutes. Leave to cool, then squeeze the tamarind for 5 minutes to extract the flavour. Strain the water, discard the tamarind seed and fibre, and freeze any juice you don’t use.
Wichet Khongphoon is the chef-owner of Supawan, London N1