Lao Jeow Bong Eggplant Dip with Rice

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggplants
• 3 cups sticky or jasmine rice, for serving
• 3 tbsp raw sticky rice, for the powder
• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 4 shallots, unpeeled
• 3 to 5 dried or fresh chilies
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and scallion
• 4 cups raw vegetables, to serve
• Salt

Steps

1. Toast the 3 tablespoons of raw sticky rice in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes, until deep golden brown and intensely fragrant.
2. Take the rice all the way to a nutty brown, not just pale gold. Under-toasted rice powder tastes of nothing and adds no aroma.
3. Grind the toasted rice to a coarse powder in a mortar or spice grinder and set it aside.
4. Char the whole eggplants, the unpeeled garlic, shallots, and chilies directly over a flame or under a hot broiler for 12 to 15 minutes, turning, until the eggplant skins are blackened and the flesh has collapsed completely.
5. Cover the charred vegetables for 10 minutes so the steam loosens the skins, then peel everything, keeping the smoky eggplant flesh and discarding the blackened skin.
6. Pound the garlic, shallots, and chilies to a paste in a mortar with a pinch of salt, then work in the eggplant flesh, keeping it coarse and textured.
7. Season with the soy sauce, lime juice, and sugar, then stir in the rice powder, which thickens the dip and gives it its characteristic grainy body.
8. Fold in the cilantro and scallion and serve at room temperature with the rice, raw vegetables, and lime wedges.

Allergen note: Contains gluten and soy.

Use the listed quantities as a guide, adjust seasoning to taste, and cook proteins to a safe internal temperature.