Soba Noodles with Aubergine and Mango

From Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press, 2010.

When I read eggplant and mango together I hesitated. Would that work? I felt somewhat uncertain about that combination. And I had never used soba noodles before. However, I had previously made several recipes from this book so I did trust Yotam Ottolenghi. I decided to give it a go.

The dressing was made first. That in itself seemed unusual to me. But go with the chef’s instructions. It was an Asian mix of rice vinegar, sugar, salt garlic, red chilli and sesame oil with some lime juice and zest.

Next I fried the eggplant (aubergine) that I’d cut into cubes. When they were golden they were sprinkled with salt and left to drain.

Next the soba noodles were cooked, drained and left to dry.

The noodles were mixed with the mango cut into pieces, the eggplant, chopped basil and coriander and some sliced red onion. These were tossed with the dressing and left for an hour or two until ready to serve. Basically this was a type of noodle salad.

It was surprisingly tasty. The mango and the fried eggplant complemented one another quite well. And the soba noodles are tastier than the usual noodles.

One to add to my make again list.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔