Spiced eggplant & peanut salad

I was lucky enough to be given the Ripe cookbook from Becky recently. Having tried this eggplant and peanut salad at a friends place, I was keen to give it a go myself. I love eggplant and I think the combination of spice, eggplant, yoghurt, coriander and peanuts works really well. It was lovely served with lamb and slow roasted tomatoes, or as the recipe recommend a BBQ. It just as nice for lunch the next day too. Be warned though, the process of making this does permeate a curry smell throughout the house... I forgot to close the bedroom doors when making it, so then spent some time airing the house in an attempt to dissipate the smell!

Spiced eggplant & peanut salad
1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dried chili flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium sized eggplants, cut in cubes
salt & pepper
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 cup fresh coriander leaves
3/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
juice of 1 lemon


Yoghurt dressing
1 1/2 cups plain yoghurt
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 200C. With a mortar and pestle, crust together the toasted seeds, smoked paprika, curry powder, chili flakes, ground cumin and salt. Tip into a large bowl. Add the crushed garlic, oil and eggplant pieces. Mix well to coat.


Place the seasoned eggplant on an oven tray lined with baking paper and roast for approx 30 mins, until tender. Allow to cool. Season with salt and pepper.

For the yoghurt dressing combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix and season to taste.


To assemble the salad: On a large platter layer half the spiced eggplant, spinach leaves, a drizzle of yoghurt dressing, fresh coriander leaves and some peanuts. Repeat the sequence with the remaining ingredients and finish with coriander leaves. Finally add a good squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of the remaining dressing.

a few of our favourite things

Libby: Kedgeree is one of my all-time-favourite dishes - I love it at any time of day. My version is based on Lois Daish's recipe, as is the Kedgeree served at Nikau cafe in Wellington. I just had to have one of these lovely "Kedgeree" teatowels designed by Sarah Maxey for Nikau cafe. Too nice to use for drying dishes, I'm going pin mine on the kitchen wall. At $25 it's an expensive teatowel but very cheap kitchen "art".

Daisy adores raisins and was most pleased with herself for finding this stash in the kitchen drawer. She made quick work of removing the peg and proceeded to happily tuck into her feast of foraged raisins. (Ziplock bags are no match for this girl either...)

Becs: Caramelising onions is a long, slow process, and cutting up the onions in the first place is never a pleasant job. This onion marmalade from Barkers is handy to have in the pantry as a shortcut...at $3.99 a jar it is certainly cost effective as well as convenient. I love it spread on a pizza, topped with creamy blue cheese, thyme and walnuts. Even more delicious served with a salad of baby spinach and sliced pears tossed through some balsamic vinegar...

Miriam: Libby introduced me to Ceres peanuts a few years back - they are delicious, far superior to standard peanuts. Unfortunately about a year ago, I bought a bag of these peanuts that was rancid. I sent the company an email complaining and never received a response. I had therefore boycotted the peanuts. However, last week I decided on a whim to resend the email and express my disappointment in their lack of response. This time I received a prompt apology and a day or so later a courier package with the above products arrived. Better late than never, and I'm pleased to say this packet of peanuts tasted as delicious as I remembered them tasting (before the rancid incident).