Makhouda D'Aubergine (or Batu Quiche)

After spending the whole day in the kitchen I must say I'm relieved to be able to sit down and type instead. It's not like a whole lot of cooking was going on. No, I was stacking away all the groceries from last nights run and decided to clean out one of my drawers. Then my kids decided to clean out my baking drawer, now that was like opening up a can of worms. But it was finally clean and the girls were very proud of themselves. Except that the counter tops had all kinds of stuff that had to be washed or trashed, that was of course left up to me!

For dinner tonight we are having an eggplant quiche. It's the kind of quiche that has everyone in the house salivating when I just mention that it's on the menu for dinner. Well worth the time it takes to make it and very forgiving.

Preparation time: 45 min. + 45 min. baking; Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ~500g	Eggplant (large)
	Salt for sprinkling
3 tbsp.	Oil
1	Onion, finely diced
1	Red bell pepper, finely diced
8	Eggs (L)
1/4 cup	Minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp.	Minced garlic
250 g	Emmental cheese
1/2 cup	Bread crumbs
1/4 tsp.	Ground rose buds
1/4 tsp.	Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp.	Salt
1/2 tsp.	Chili powder
1/4 tsp.	Coriander powder

Method:

The tough part about this recipe (and the main reason why I don't cook it more often) is the dicing. It does take a bit of time to get everything cut to the right size. Today I spent about 30 minutes just dicing the eggplant, onion and peppers! I dice everything to around 5 mm.

If you are using Asian eggplants then you should use at least 2 of them and maybe even 3. What is wonderful about this recipe is that you can have more or less eggplant and it doesn't change the taste all that much. If you have the time, once you've diced the eggplant sprinkle it with salt and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Then wash it and pat it dry. Needless to say I usually skip this step.

Instead of red bell pepper you can use other peppers. I've used green bell peppers and capsicums as substitutes and the quiche still tastes great.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the eggplant, onion and pepper and cook until they are golden brown. Stir the vegetables occasionally.

While this is cooking you can get the rest of the ingredients ready. Chop the parsley, mince the garlic and dice the cheese into 7 mm cubes. Sometimes when I cook this dish I don't have all the proper ingredients. Instead of parsley I've used coriander leaves and the cheese varies according to what is around. In Sri Lanka I use the local Gouda, in the USA Swiss. If I want to be fancy I use some Gruyere.

Then lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl and add ALL the ingredients to it. Make sure that the vegetables have cooled down a little bit before you add them. If they are too hot the egg will get cooked and the quiche will not be as tasty.

Turn the mixture into a 2-quart souffle dish or into ramekins or muffin pans and bake at 180 C in a fan oven (200 C/400 F conventional). A 2-quart souffle dish will take around 45 minutes to bake, while the smaller dishes take less time. You'll know that it's done when the top is golden brown and puffed and when you insert a knife it comes out clean. Be careful if your knife hits a melted piece of cheese it won't come out clean even if the quiche is done!

It can be served pipping hot with a fresh green salad and bread or just by itself. Wonderful to use to fill sandwiches the next day! Can also be cubed up and served with cocktail sticks as an appetizer or snack.

This recipe was adapted from "The Vegetarian Table North Africa" by Kitty Morse

And here is a Chef friendly version

Bi Bim Bap

Frequently the weather dictates what should  be cooked for dinner. And as it grows cold, grey and wet there is nothing better than a hot, hot bibimbap. This Korean dish is the great for warming the soul. Plus you can make it chili hot too.

It's pretty easy to put together but it's really tough to get all the ingredients hot onto the table. What I really like is when it is served in a stone bowl which has been pre-heated. Unfortunately I've never been able to get my hands on 4 such bowls :( So we just use regular serving bowls. It's also time sensitive so you've got to know when everyone is going to be there (if you want it hot, that is). This is usually hard for us to achieve on a week night but we still try. And if you really need your meat fix, you can make this with meat too.

I'm never quite sure how many people this recipe serves. I think my kids might eat a full adult serving but then again, maybe they don't. To be on the safe side I'd say it serves 4 but you might find it serves 6.

Ingredients:

	2 cups	Rice
Marinade
	2 cloves	Garlic, minced
	2	Green onions, chopped
	5 tbsp.	Soya sauce
	2 tbsp.	Sugar
	2 tbsp.	Vegetable oil
	1 tsp.	Sesame seeds, roasted
	1 tbsp.	Sesame oil
	1/8 tsp.	Black pepper, ground
Meat!
	500 g	Tofu
Vegetables:
	300 g	Carrots
	300 g	Frozen spinach
	1 tbsp.	Sesame oil
	1 tsp.	Sesame seeds, roasted
	2 cup	Mung bean sprouts
	4	Eggs
		Kimchee

Method:

The first thing to do is get the rice ready. I use sushi rice but you can use any type of Korean rice. You just need to be careful and make sure that you soak the rice ahead of time else it will not taste good. So wash your rice as usual and then add an equal amount of water as rice and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Longer is better. And then cook it.

Put together the marinade for the tofu (you can substitute for any type of meat or fish) well in advance so that the tofu has time to absorb the flavour. You probably know that tofu is pretty bland, so you've really got to let the sauce get into it. The best way to do this is to squeeze the water out of the tofu by wrapping it in paper towels and putting a weight on top of it. Place it so that the water can drain out and leave it for around 30 minutes. Then when you put the tofu in the sauce it will have plenty of space to absorb marinade. Of course I don't always do this, because as you all know I'm ALWAYS short on time. Once you've drained the tofu cut it into bite sized cubes (1 - 2 cm dice).

The marinade is pretty easy to make. Just make sure you slice the spring onion finely and mash, crush the garlic well.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved.

And then put in the tofu and carefully mix it all up.

Leave this to sit for at least half an hour (or as long as it takes you to chop up the rest of the ingredients).

Next take the carrots and cut them in to matchsticks. This is about as tough as it gets with this recipe. It takes a while to cut them up. I'm sure you can buy some type of gadget to do the cutting for you. I cut mine to be about 2 inches (5 cm) long and then set them aside.

If you are using fresh spinach it will have to be cooked. Fresh spinach tastes much better than frozen but it takes a considerable amount of effort to prepare it. For fresh spinach, put it in a large pan, without water, put the lid on and heat until the spinach becomes limp (a couple of minutes). Then drain the water and chop. If you are using frozen spinach defrost it (I use the microwave) and drain the water. You don't need to get paranoid about draining the water. Just get out what you can. No need to squeeze it or anything fancy like that.

Next wash your bean sprouts and get a pot of water ready to boil them in. So as I said before everything has to be hot when it goes into the bowl so a cooking frenzy is about to start in the kitchen. Get everyone out of the way and boil yourself a kettle of water. Pour the boiling water into the bowls you are going to use to eat the bibimbap to heat them up.

What I do next is lay the table! There are three essentials (and one non-essential). You need to have Sirachara sauce (the one with the chicken on the bottle is the original and the best, it's made in california!), Hoisin sauce and Kimchee. You could make your own Kimchee but I haven't tried it myself. I buy fresh stuff from the local Asian store. You can also get packets that come from Korea. As you can see, Kimchee is hot but it is delicious. My daughter has been whacking it since she was 3 years old. Don't forget to lay the table with small side dishes to put the Kimchee in.

The non-essential item is some type of Korean tea. Green or Jasmine would do although in Korean places you usually get a barley tea. Make sure you have plenty of water at the table for all those who underestimate the strength of the Sirachara sauce!!

Now time to go back and cook. Ideally you would have 5 burners going at the same time. C'est un petit probleme ... most cookers only have 4. I acutally only use 3 burners because I don't have enough woks to cook everything in. I start by putting a pan full of water on the stove for the bean sprouts. I'm not too picky if they are a bit cold! Then I stir fry the carrots in a small wok. I sprinkle them with salt while they are frying. I've found that I have to keep turning them otherwise they will burn, so it's a bit labour intensive. They get fried until they turn limp i.e. are no longer crunchy.

By the time the carrots are done the water for the bean sprouts is boiling so I throw them in. Then I put on the frying pan to fry the eggs. While that oil is heating up I fry the spinach. For this I use a tablespoon or so of sesame oil and add salt, pepper and sesame seeds. Then I fry it all up until it's nice and dry because, remember, the spinach is already cooked. By now the bean sprouts are done (boiling for 2-3 minutes) so I turn them out into a colander.

Then start frying the eggs. Make sure your egg yolk is soggy, it adds to the taste of the dish. While frying the eggs I finally fry the tofu until it's just cooked. None of this stuff is an exact science. The tofu doesn't need to cook very long but on the other hand you can cook it for longer and it will be fine. Just make sure you don't burn it.

Now once you are done juggling the eggs and the tofu everything is ready. I put the eggs into the bowls in the kitchen and serve the rest in individual bowls. Traditionally the egg should go on top but that would mean I'd have to serve everything in the kitchen and I'm bound to give one too much and the other too little.

At last it is ready to eat! But you have to remember a very, very important step. So first of all serve yourself everything in the required quantity.

Then add the Sirachara and Hoisin sauce to taste and then MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER!!

And although this might look like a big mess to you, it tastes awesome. There is no other way to eat it so if this grosses you out don't even try making it.
Enjoy your Bibimbap with Kimchee on the side.