Ingredient of the Month: Aubergine

Aubergines are versatile vegetables used in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine. Ratatouille and mousakka are two of the best-known Mediterranean dishes it features in, it is roasted and pureed to make the Middle Eastern dip called baba ganoush. Aubergine is used in Asian cooking in Indian curries where it is known as brinjal and in many Thai curries.

Some recipes direct the cook to salt aubergine before use to remove bitter juices, this step is no longer necessary as nowadays aubergine do not contain these bitter juices. However salting before can help to reduce the amount of oil that the aubergine absorbs.