Brunei - Aubergine Sauce (Sambal Terong)

Aubergine Sauce 

(Sambal Terong)

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

-       2 sm Aubergines

-       1 lg Spanish onion

-       4 Cloves garlic

-       1 tb Vegetable oil

-       2 ts Chilli powder

-       1 sl Terasi

-       1 ts Brown sugar

-       2 lg Tomatoes

Directions

-       Slice the aubergine and sprinkle it with salt; leave to stand for half an hour, then rinse and dry.

-       Cut up the tomatoes and remove the seeds.

-       Crush the terasi and garlic together.

-       Slice the onion thinly, and fry until slightly brown.

-       Add the garlic and terasi, the sugar and the chilli powder.

-       Put in the aubergine, and mix well.

-       Add the tomatoes, cover the pan, and continue cooking gently for 5 minutes.

-       Taste, and add salt if necessary.

-       Then put the mixture into a pudding basin and steam it for 20 minutes.

If you want this relish to be really hot--spicy hot--then take 4 green chillis, seed them and chop finely, and put them into the frying-pan at the same time as the onions. Alternatively, use dried red chillis: soak them for at least 15 minutes and put them into the mixture, whole, when everything goes into the basin for steaming.

This is a relish which can be used hot or cold.