Ensaladang Talong (Eggplant Salad) + Sawsawan

My good friend Luisa is an amazing food photographer and a very proud Filipino woman, and I have wanted to spend some time cooking Filipino food with her for a while now, and this episode of Taste of Australia was just the chance! Our friend Will from Sydney Cebu Lechon was preparing us some BBQ pork belly, so we got to creating some sides!

Prep: 20 minutes - Cook: 15 minutes - Serves: 4 as a side - Difficulty: Super Easy - Recipe: Luisa Brimble

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Ingredients

8 Japanese eggplants, or 4 regular eggplants
⅓ cup coconut vinegar
⅓ cup white vinegar
⅓ cup cane vinegar
⅓ cup Toyomansi - soy sauce + calamansi (Filipino lime)
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 golden shallot, finely diced
4 cherry tomatoes, finely diced
1 medium Lebanese cucumber, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Notes
* This Ensaladang Talong pairs perfectly with pork or chicken as a main dish.

Method

Step 1. Preheat a BBQ grill to high. Place the eggplants onto the BBQ grill and cook for 10-15 minutes with the BBQ hood down, turning occasionally, until charred all over. Remove eggplants and place into a large bowl and cover the top with foil or a plate to allow the eggplants to steam and soften.

 Step 2. Meanwhile, make the dipping sauces. Here’s the flavour combinations that Luisa and I used:

 To each, we added a pinch of sea salt and black pepper:
⅓ cup coconut vinegar + cherry tomatoes
⅓ cup white vinegar + shallots + garlic
⅓ cup cane vinegar + celery
⅓ cup Toyomansi + cucumber

Step 3. Remove the eggplants from the bowl and carefully peel off their skins but keep the stalk intact. Place the eggplant onto a working surface and use a fork to mash the eggplant until about 1cm thick. Place the eggplant into a serving bowl and repeat with the remaining eggplants.

 Step 4. Serve the eggplant in a serving bowl and spoon over the different vinegar sauces.