Sometimes when I'm eating aubergines, I think that the taste is a wee bit like mushrooms. Strangely, when eating mushrooms, I've never thought that they taste anything like aubergines. Now why should that be, I wonder?
For quite some time I had it in mind to try a dish combining these two ingredients and when I finally got round to it the result was surprisingly good. I don't know why there are not more recipes out there combining mushrooms and aubergines. I had the idea of adding coconut because I had recently done a Thai-style aubergine and coconut curry and a while before that I knocked up mushroom and coconut soup. So I figured the coconut would go well in the mix.
There are two ways of preparing this dish: wet or dry. The wet version requires coconut milk and is good served with boiled rice. The dry version uses desiccated coconut and is better served as a side dish to something with a bit of gravy.
200g of mushrooms
1 large aubergine
2 cloves of garlic
A piece of root ginger
A few green onions
A few sprigs of green coriander
2 cups of coconut milk OR two dessertspoons of desiccated coconut
Oil
Salt
Prepare the ginger and garlic first by peeling it and chopping finely. Chop the green onion and coriander, then slice the mushrooms thinly. Finally, cut the aubergine into thin strips. Work quickly with the aubergine as it will start to go brown as soon as it is cut. Add everything except the coriander to a hot pan with just a little oil. Sprinkle on some salt and fry for a few minutes at a high temperature until the aubergines just begin to soften. If using coconut milk, add it at this stage, bring to the boil then turn down the heat to simmer for two minutes before adding the coriander. For the dry version, turn off the heat as soon as the aubergine has started to soften and then stir in the desiccated coconut and coriander.