An Incidental Nap

While I was approaching last weekend, I thought it would be nice to invite a friend for a trip to the local market, buy vegetables, cook, and eat together. As enthusiastic as I was, I came out with 3 different recipes which I wanted us to have for an enjoyable Saturday lunch. You know, like eating and chatting, and eating and chatting ....

Responding to my invitation, my friend, W came to stay over on a Friday night so we could carry out our cooking plan on Saturday morning. When the morning came, I already had lots of things in my mind - recipes, photo shoots, and this post. Plenty of things to juggle before a simple walk into the market. But I was relieved since W agreed to give a hand and seemed to be quite into it!

Only when it came to the preparation stage, things changed. Just half an hour before we were supposed to cut, chop, slice, and all those actions, he lied down on the couch and slept. I was quite discouraged for a while but then I managed to pick myself up, back into my cooking mood... and back into my chopping board. And there I was doing the preparation and cooking with utmost joy, but only with one difference: I was cooking 1 recipe instead of 3 :-)

When W woke up from his 'incidental' nap it was just time for us to eat the dish since I already managed to snap some shots for this post. Ha ha thinking about it, I will definitely do it again.... just with a different friend ... and no incidental nap, please!



GREEN EGGPLANT SALAD
Serves 2 persons

Ingredients:
- Big green eggplant > 2
- Boiled egg - halve > 1
- Dried shrimps - ground > 1 tablespoon
- Mint leaves - pluck from stalk > 1
- Shallots - slice > 3

Spices:
- Lime juice > 2 tablespoons
- Granulated sugar > 1 tablespoon
- Squid/fish sauce > 1 tablespoon
- Red chilies - slice > 2

Method:
- Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
- Prepare spices by mixing lime juice, sugar, and squid/fish sauce. Keep stirring until sugar dissolved. Fold in red chilies. Set aside.
- Bake eggplants at 200 degree Celsius for 15 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool.
- Peel eggplants, halve, and cut into 2 inch length.
- Stack up baked eggplants on a serving plate. Then crown with boiled egg.
- Sprinkle with sliced shallots and grounded shrimps. Then pour spice sauce thoroughly.
- Finally garnish with mint leaves.
- Serve.