Tomato and Aubergine salad

    

I had this once at a friend's place and wanted to try this salad. But hers was a lot different as she had cut the aubergine and tomatoes so tiny that you couldnt make out what was what. But it tasted really good. I decided to make my own version and made bigger pieces with a little bit more colour.

1 small aubergine  ( i used the Asian type)

1 medium size tomato 

small shallot or half a small onion,

finely chopped Juice of 1/2 a lemon or to your taste 

Salt pepper

1 green chilli, finely sliced 

A small handful of chopped coriander leaves

Oil for frying either olive oil or vegetable oil

 1. Cut your eggplant into small cubes, add a pinch of salt and leave in a colander for a few minutes, wash in running water and pat dry with a kitchen towel.

 2. Chop your tomatoes into roughly the same size cubes as your eggplants.

 3. Heat a frying pan with some olive oil or regular vegetable oil, just enough to cover the bottom and fry the eggplants till nice and golden. Drain well on kitchen paper. 

 4. In a bowl, mix in your tomatoes, chillies, onions and eggplants with lemon or lime juice salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings and stir in coriander leaves. Leave for a few minutes for the flavours to absorb before serving. 

 Aubergines have so many names. I have heard it being called brinjal, eggplants and aubergine. We call it " bashi" in our language. Hope you all had a lovely week !!! Ps: By the way does anyone know how to clean and prepare a baby octopus for cooking.