Honeyed Aubergine Tostadas

Why you will love it

We tested this 3 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with black garlic won every single round. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it.

Do not skip the lime; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. We first ate something like this at a street stall in Osaka, balanced on a plastic stool, and spent the flight home reverse-engineering it. Rafa, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”.

Do not skip the baby spinach; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. Rafa, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. We first ate something like this at a street stall in Lisbon, balanced on a plastic stool, and spent the flight home reverse-engineering it. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink.

Ingredients

• 500g aubergine, prepped and patted dry
• 2 tsp double cream
• a handful of honey
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• a pinch of black pepper
• 400g Greek yoghurt
• 100g dried lime
• 2 tsp preserved lemon
• 3 cloves tamarind
• 250g white pepper
• 1 small bunch basil
• a thumb of shallots
• 2 tbsp mint
• 250g avocado
• flaky salt and something sharp, to finish

Method

1. Fold the mixture together gently — you want distinct pieces of aubergine, not a paste. Season again; it almost certainly needs more salt.
2. Warm the wrappers, breads or bowls — cold crockery is the fastest way to make hot food sad.
3. Heat the oven to 160°C. Spread everything out on a wire rack; crowding is the enemy of crisp.
4. Set a Dutch oven over a medium-high heat and add a good glug of sea salt. When it shimmers, add the aubergine in a single layer and leave it alone for 8 minutes.
5. Cook in batches for 24 minutes per side until deeply golden. Resist flipping early; they release from the pan when they are ready.
6. Whisk the Dijon mustard with the sherry vinegar until completely smooth. Taste it. It should be slightly too punchy on its own.
7. Pile on the cherry tomatoes, spoon over any juices left in the pan and finish with a pinch of crispy shallots.
8. Shape into 10 even portions with damp hands. Chill for 6 minutes if you have time, because cold mixture holds its shape far better.
9. Stir in the furikake and cook until it smells toasty and the raw edge has gone, about 4 minutes. Scrape up anything sticking to the bottom — that is flavour.
10. Meanwhile, finely chop the cucumber and toss with a pinch of baking powder and a squeeze of citrus. Set aside so it can soften slightly.
11. Taste one. Adjust with acid, salt or heat. Taste another, for science.
12. Serve immediately with buttered corn on the cob, and put the rest of the fennel seed on the table for the brave.

Cook’s notes

The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the Greek yoghurt hydrates as it rests. If your aubergine is releasing a lot of water, your pan is not hot enough. Take everything out, get it smoking, and start again in smaller batches.

No cultured butter? A mix of tamarind and a little sea salt gets you most of the way there. Rafa swears by adding the avocado in two stages: half cooked in for sweetness, half raw at the end for crunch. The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the soy sauce hydrates as it rests.

The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the double cream hydrates as it rests. If your aubergine is releasing a lot of water, your pan is not hot enough. Take everything out, get it smoking, and start again in smaller batches.

Swaps and variations

• Make it vegan: swap the honey for a plant-based version and add an extra spoon of coconut cream for richness.
• A Palermo-style version uses white pepper instead and is eaten with quick-pickled red onions.
• Gluten-free: use rice flour for dusting and check your star anise label.
• In summer, replace the aubergine with whatever is glutting at the market and halve the cooking time.
• For kids, drop the chilli and serve the chipotle in adobo on the side.

Make ahead and storage

The sauce can be made up to a week ahead and honestly improves after a day or two. They freeze brilliantly uncooked: open-freeze on a tray, then bag them up. Cook from frozen, adding 5 minutes.

Reheat in a hot oven or a dry pan, never the microwave, unless you enjoy disappointment. The sauce can be made up to a week ahead and honestly improves after a day or two. Keep the garlic separate until serving so it stays perky.

Where it comes from

The star anise is a relatively modern addition; older recipes relied on tamarind for the same savoury backbone. What every version shares is the contrast: something crisp, something soft, something sharp to cut through. Versions of this dish turn up wherever people needed to make a little aubergine feed a lot of mouths.

Versions of this dish turn up wherever people needed to make a little aubergine feed a lot of mouths. In Osaka, vendors sell them by the half-dozen from carts that appear at dusk and vanish by midnight.

Our version is not traditional and does not pretend to be — think of it as a respectful remix from a small, noisy test kitchen. In Chengdu, vendors sell them by the half-dozen from carts that appear at dusk and vanish by midnight.

What to serve with it

We like a sharp cucumber salad, warm flatbreads and, if we are going all out, slaw with too much lime.

This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it. There are snacks you eat standing at the counter, and then there are aubergine tostadas — the kind you clear your evening for. Do not skip the carrots; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy.

What do I serve with it?

We like steamed jasmine rice and steamed jasmine rice. A crisp, cold drink is non-negotiable.

Season in layers. A pinch at each stage beats a panic-handful at the end.

How spicy is this?

As written, a friendly medium. Halve the chilli for a gentle version or add za'atar if you like to suffer a little.

The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the double cream hydrates as it rests.

Can I make these ahead for a party?

Yes. Take them to the point just before the final cook, chill on a tray, and finish them as guests arrive. They take 4 minutes and make the house smell incredible.

Dev swears by adding the baby spinach in two stages: half cooked in for sweetness, half raw at the end for crunch.

Can I double the recipe?

Absolutely, but cook in more batches rather than bigger ones. Crowded pans steam instead of sear.

If you are cooking for a crowd, hold finished batches in a 160°C oven on a wire rack, never stacked.

Mine fell apart in the pan. What happened?

Usually the mixture was too warm or the pan too cold. Chill for 23 minutes and make sure the oil shimmers before anything goes in.

The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the caster sugar hydrates as it rests.