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Vietnamese-Style Broiled Eggplant
Cà tím nướng is a popular Vietnamese dish of grilled eggplant with nước chấm, the ubiquitous savory-sweet dressing made with fish sauce, lime and garlic. For this recipe, we moved the cooking indoors and fired up the broiler for year-round convenience; its focused heat does a good job of charring the eggplant. With no sweetener other than the natural sugars in the shredded carrots, the dressing that sauces the eggplant after broiling has more savory-sour notes and a more restrained sweetness than is typical of nước chấm. Serve this with steamed jasmine rice as a light meal or offer it as a component of a Southeast Asian-inspired dinner.
4 to 6
Servings
Don’t use globe eggplant for this recipe, as it is more bulbous and seedy than slender Chinese or Japanese eggplant. Broilers vary in heat output, so keep a close eye on the eggplant as it cooks and be sure to rotate the baking sheet halfway to help ensure even browning.
35 minutes
Ingredients
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1
medium carrot, peeled and shredded on the large holes of a box grater
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2
Fresno OR jalapeño chilies, stemmed, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced into thin half rings
Directions
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01In a small bowl, stir together the carrot, chilies, lime juice, garlic and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper; set aside. Heat the broiler with a rack about 4 inches from the element. Brush the eggplant on all sides with the oil, then sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Arrange cut side up on a broiler-safe rimmed baking sheet and broil until well charred and a skewer inserted through the thickest parts meets no resistance, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway. Transfer the eggplant to a cutting board, cut into into 1½- to 2-inch pieces and place on a platter.
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I did end up making this with globe eggplants and it was still delicious - just needed longer to broil. I always buy male eggplants so that helps cut down on the seeds. I also added some chili garlic paste to up the kick and a tsp of honey to counterbalance the fish sauce.