Servings: 4 to 6
This salad is a delicious way to show off the lovely slender shape of Asian eggplants, which readily absorb the ginger-soy dressing that’s spooned over the top.
In a small bowl, whisk 3 Tbs. of the peanut oil with the lime juice, 2 Tbs. of the shallot, the fish sauce, 3/4 tsp. of the sugar, and the chiles. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
In another small bowl, combine 2 tsp. water with the ginger, soy sauce, the remaining 1 Tbs. shallot, and 1 tsp. sugar.
Arrange the eggplant halves on a rimmed baking sheet, brush both sides with the remaining 1 Tbs. peanut oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the eggplant, covered, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
Combine the lettuces, tomatoes, basil, and mint in a large bowl. Rewhisk the lime dressing and toss just enough into the salad to lightly coat the greens. Season the salad to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the salad to a platter and arrange the eggplant over the salad. Spoon the ginger mixture over the eggplant, and serve immediately.
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Loved this! Recipe made way more dressing than needed for the amount of greens I used. Be sure to use the long purple Asian eggplant. It's sweeter and the skin is not tough. This recipe makes a substantial salad that can be a meal in and of itself!
This is a delicious and, I suspect, very forgiving recipe. I mistakenly put all 1-3/4 tsp sugar into the dressing, which meant that I needed more sugar (I used 3/4 tsp) for the eggplant dressing. I'm not much on sweeteners and I didn't think this was overdone. Of necessity I mixed greens (some romaine thrown in) and it was fine. The basil and mint added a nice lilt to the greens: in the given proportions they made for a pleasant surprise, but much more would have been overpowering.The salad dressing tastes like a great stand-alone dressing for any salad, and I plan to add it to my repertoire. The eggplant was lovely. Warning: if, like me, you can't find enough of the slender Asian eggplant and have to substitute some of the baby round eggplants more common to Middle Eastern cookery, peel them. The slender eggplants didn't need peeling; the fatter eggplants' peels turned bitter from cooking.
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