Recipe: deep-fried eggplant with fresh lime sambal

Maureen Tan grew up with her parents’ Javanese cuisine. This cuisine can be divided into West, Central and East, each with its own distinctive dishes. In her cookbook Java, Maureen delves even deeper into the cuisine she loves so much, resulting in the most delicious recipes. Make this one soon: deep-fried eggplant with fresh lime sambal.

Maureen: “This deep-fried eggplant is delicious as a side dish, but you can also serve it with drinks, accompanied by some cocktail sticks.”

How to make deep-fried eggplant with fresh lime sambal (Terong raos)

• Grind the shallots with 1⁄2 of the garlic, 1⁄2 of the turmeric root, 1⁄2 of the rawits and the lomboks, the lemongrass and the lime leaves with 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt in a mortar until you have a fine sambal.
• Heat some oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the sambal in it for about 5 minutes. Add the ketjap manis, ketjap asin and vinegar and turn off the heat.
• Grind the remaining garlic, turmeric root and rawits with 1 teaspoon of salt in a mortar until you have a fine boemboe.
• Sift the flour together with the rice flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the boemboe and whisk in 150 millilitres of cold water.
• Heat 1⁄2 litre of oil in a wok over medium heat. Coat the eggplant slices in the batter and deep-fry them in batches until golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
• Warm the sambal in a saucepan over medium heat. Toss the deep-fried eggplant in it, sprinkle with lemon basil and serve immediately.

Title: Java
Author: Maureen Tan
Price: €35,-
Publisher: Carrera Culinair

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