Aubergine salad

Creamy and tangy Aubergine salad 

There comes the time when you are tired, tensed with an approaching deadline yet there is the weekend to spend with the other half (Cannot be sure if better) So despite the work schedule we lazily watched movies and then there were the hunger pangs at 4 p.m.

My funny bachelor of a husband as I call him lives in the City of Dreams while I stay in the City of Joy. Quite naturally I expect compromises such as having to not have the joys of an oven, absence of many a kitchen appliances both electronic and otherwise but what was beyond my anticipation was the absence of a gas-stove. Apparently the electronic stove which was probably invented during the discovery of Electricity itself does the work for him.

Swamped with work I asked the other half to stock the pantry and come Saturday I had garlic, onions, tomatoes , plump purple aubergines , a few stale wholewheat bread slices  , chili flakes salt Olive oil which I had stocked in my previous visit some 4 months ago and some curd which I did hang for a quick dip which meant a visit to the market was a necessity deadline or no deadline but before that it was lunch time and so I decided on making some cooked salsa and storing it for further emergencies. You see these humble tomatoes can work wonders when in need. Use it as a dip for veggies and you have a lovely snack, use it with salads , use it as a condiment for meat. Well its usefulness is endless.

Now the salad is extremely simple :

All you need is

Plump purple aubergines
Whipped hung curd
Homemade salsa


So I went ahead with my batch of salsa.

Basically it is very easy

I used about 6 plump small to medium sized tomatoes
1 whole medium sized onion and half a medium sized onion
5 to 6 pressed garlic (the size is 1/4th of the giant garlic cloves)
salt as per taste
Olive Oil
Chili flakes (I used 1 tsp since the other half has developed an intolerance for hot food) You can use it as per the amount of hotness you can handle

Just use a good lug of oil and saute your pressed garlic  , when you get that beautiful aroma add your chopped onions and saute till translucent and add chopped tomatoes. Mix well and then simmer covered. remember that tomatoes have high water content and hardly needs extra water in the salsa. When you see bubbles on top add salt and chili flakes and mix well. and then simmer mashing everything with a masher from time to time till it reduces and becomes sticky. Cool the cooked tomatoes and simply blend away to a chunky paste. This can be stored upto 5 days. Simply add 1 tbsp of olive oil when putting it in the jars

The next step is simple . Simple whip your hung curd to yield a smooth creamy texture. Tip Do not throw it in a blender please else you shall have a creamy but liquid curd.

Frying aubergines

Cut your aubergine in circular shapes neither too thick nor too thin because if its too thick it absorbs way too much oil and too thin would burn it easily. Simply fry these in olive oil. Now you might think that refined oil which is much cheaper is the better option but believe me when I say that olive oil has its own flavour which it imparts to the aubergine when fried in it. Simply rub salt and fry on both sides till golden. I usually cover the pan when frying aubergines to speed up the process.

Frying bread

Make little cubes out of your bread slices and simply fry to a crunchy delight

Assembling the salad is a piece of cake. Simple layer the aubergines add whipped hung curd on top and top it with salsa and the fried pieces of bread.

Now while this salad is neither low calorie nor fat free it is one hearty salad perfect for the gloomy cold weather of which Bombay had neither on that particular but nevertheless the husband licked the plate clean. I took a single bite and was tempted to try bite after bite but refrained from doing so with great difficulty