“A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.”
— Yotam Ottolenghi
Growing up, I don’t remember having a noodle salad. Ever.
Or, eating an eggplant or a mango for that matter.
Jackfruit? Don’t even go there.
The food world (my food world) has certainly changed during my lifetime. I would guess that yours has, too. We are so fortunate to have the diversity of foodstuffs that we enjoy today. Shame on us if we take that for granted as the world faces the threat of unprecedented climate change.
That said, here is a great cold noodle salad for these hot end-of-summer days. With ramen noodles, mangoes, cilantro, eggplant and sesame oil, this is not your 1950s salad.
This recipe is adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook, Plenty. You can find this cookbook in your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
This is how I prepared the salad in my kitchen and it certainly made perfect sense for all those wonderful ingredients to share a place in my salad bowl.
Noodles With Eggplant and Mango Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 C. rice vinegar
- 3 T. sugar (or to taste)
- 1/2 t. salt
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1/2 fresh red chile (finely chopped)
- 1 t. toasted sesame oil
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 C. grapeseed oil
- 2 eggplants (cut into 3/4 inch dice)
- 8 oz. noodles (I used ramen)
- 1 large ripe mango (diced)
- 1 2/3 C. basil leaves (chopped)
- 2 1/2 C. cilantro leaves (chopped)
- 1/2 red onion (thinly sliced)
- Peanuts for garnish (chopped)
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare the dressing by combining rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pan. Warm the mixture and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove this mixture from the heat and stir in garlic, chile and sesame oil. Set this mixture aside to cool. Once the dressing has cooled, stir in the lime juice and zest. Set aside.
- Step 2 Shallow-fry the eggplant in the oil until the eggplant is golden brown. Drain and let try on paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Set aside.
- Step 3 Prepare the noodles. Boil the noodles until they are al dente. Drain, rinse, and let the noodles dry on a dish towel.
- Step 4 To prepare the final dish, toss the noodles, dressing, mango, eggplant, half of the herbs, and the onion together in a large bowl. Allow the noddles to sit for a couple of hours to let the flavor of the dressing permeate the noodles.
- Step 5 To serve this dish, add the rest of the herbs to the noodle mixture. Toss. Sprinkle some chopped roasted peanuts over the dish and serve.
