Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

We all know that vegan and vegetarian recipes are tasty, colorful and generally healthy. This book proves it all. Meera Sodha takes us from Bangalore to Beijing. Coconut rice with eggplant and pickled cucumber is based on a Malaysian dish, nasi lemak. The only thing what I change is using lemon juice instead of tamarind, which I can’t find here. I also double the amount of vegetables.

I prepare the eggplant and cucumber in the afternoon. Cut 1 kg of eggplant in short sticks of approximately 1 cm thickness. Slice 1 red onion. Heat a frying pan. Spread 2 table spoons of sunflower oil. Fry the onion for a few minutes. Add the eggplant. Stir and fry. Add 4 chopped garlic cloves and 1 chopped chili. Stir and fry. Add a few table spoons of water if needed. Close the pan. Stir now and again. Once the eggplant is almost done, add 100ml of coconut milk, a drizzle of lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1 table spoon of soy sauce. Here stops the pre-preparation.

Wash 1 medium sized cucumber. Cut in halves. Remove the seeds and chop. Mix with 2 table spoons of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 finely chopped chili. Store in the fridge.

For 2p, put 150 grams of jasmine rice in a small pan. Add 150 ml of coconut milk, 125 ml of water and a pinch of salt. Allow to cook for 15 minutes. Stop the heat. Put 1 foil of kitchen paper under the lid. Allow to rest for another 15 minutes.

Crunch 50 grams of salted peanuts in a morter.

Reheat the eggplant until the liquid evaporates.

Serve the eggplant on the rice. Finish with the cucumber and peanuts. Fabulous food 😋.