Vangi Bhareeth- Aubergine Salad

Aubergine is such a versatile vegetable, and amongst vegans and vegetarians, it is a very popular vegetable that is meaty in texture, has a satiating mouthfeel and a savoury-sweet taste. Depending on the variety used and the recipe, it can have a vegetal bitterness or a sweet flesh. Aubergines absorb oil and spices, which gives a varying taste profile to each recipe created with it. India boasts of many indigenous varieties of aubergines, also called brinjals or eggplant. Each region has a special variety and summers yield some hardy drought-resistant types. So, you can imagine the array of recipes one can tap into to make delicious side dishes for every meal. This salad is a cooling, refreshing one, especially during the summer. It is versatile to be used as an unctuous dip or to pile onto a thick slice of crusty bread. You can even fill it into a Pita bread along with other greens and tomatoes, and you have a filling meal!  This is an excellent side dish when you BBQ, as roasting it on coal or wood embers gives it an additional smoky flavour.

Try to get a graffiti Aubergine if you can, in place of the black one, as it has more texture and firm flesh. At our house, we had a small brazier and the aubergines were roasted on coals. You can roast an aubergine whole in an oven heated at the highest temperature.

For two persons. 1 cup=240ml/ 1 tbsp=15ml/ 1 tsp=5 ml

Ingredients

	1 aubergine – 300-350g
	1 white onion/ red onion/ 3 spring onions finely chopped.
	1 green or red chilli – finely chopped choose the type that suits your taste. I love a hot chilli!
	2-3 cm piece of ginger, peeled, sliced thin then chopped into tiny dice. Or grated.
	1 tsp each: sugar & cumin powder
	½ - 1 tsp salt, as per taste
	¼ tsp asafoetida
	1 cup Greek-style yoghurt ( thick yoghurt)
	Juice from half a lime