Baby aubergine with prawn and green mango

Serves 4-6

(Jason Lowe)

You normally only find these little finger-shaped aubergines in Asian supermarkets and specialist greengrocers. If you are struggling to find them, you can do slices or half slices from a normal aubergine. Green, under-ripe mangoes can be found in Asian supermarkets and actually often in normal supermarkets in the form of rock-hard mangoes that are nowhere near being edible.

6 baby finger aubergines
12 medium to large, raw seawater prawns, heads removed and peeled (reserve for the stock)
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
A small piece of root ginger, scraped and finely grated
1tsp black mustard seeds
1tsp ground cumin
2tbsp chopped coriander
1 small green mango, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 5. Put the prawn shells in a pan, cover with water and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, then strain through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean pan and simmer until it's reduced by half.

Meanwhile, place the aubergines on a baking tray and cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Cut the prawns into 3-4 pieces. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan, season the prawns and fry quickly on a high heat for a minute, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put to one side.

Lower the heat and fry the onion, chilli, garlic, ginger, black mustard and cumin seeds for a couple of minutes; then add the stock and simmer for a few minutes.

Dice the mango flesh into small 1cm cubes and add to the sauce with the prawns and coriander, turn the heat up and cook for a minute or two until the liquid has evaporated. Season to taste.

Meanwhile, cut the aubergines in half lengthways and mash up the flesh a bit in the skin with the back of a teaspoon.

To serve, just spoon the prawn mixture into the aubergines.