From baked baby aubergines to sweet-sour peppers: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for summer vegetables | Food (2024)

Charred okra with soybean, orange and chilli dressing (pictured above)

A while ago, I went to a Malaysian cooking demonstration hosted by the lovely Debbie Teoh, a dedicated pioneer of Nyonya cooking, who served up some of the most memorable dishes I’ve ever had. One of the standouts was boiled okra with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce made from jarred soybean paste, which she’d brought all the way from Malaysia. Here’s my very different take on that dish, using Korean soybean paste, which can be found in the world food aisle of some large supermarkets and, more likely, Asian food shops. If you find the Malaysian variety, which is somewhere between a sauce and a slightly yellow paste, you’ll need to reduce the amount of sugar in the marinade.

Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4 as a side

In a large bowl, combine the soybean paste, orange juice, vinegar, sugar and sunflower oil, whisk well to combine, then stir in the chilli and set to one side.

Toss the okra with the olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, to coat, then set aside.

Put a large frying pan on a high heat until smoking, then char a third of the okra for about two minutes, turning them over as they cook, so they get nicely charred and soft all over. Transfer to a tray and leave to cool for about 15 minutes while you cook the remaining okra.

Transfer the cooled okra to the dressing bowl, add the coriander and half the shallots, and toss gently. Transfer to a platter, top with the remaining shallots and serve.

Baby aubergines in tomato sauce with anchovy and dill yoghurt

Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4

100g unsalted butter
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced (400g)
14 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole (40g)
Salt and black pepper
500g baby aubergines, slit open lengthways, but not all the way through, and with stems still attached
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 fresh plum tomatoes (800g net weight), blitzed until smooth
200g cherry tomatoes

For the cumin burnt butter
60g unsalted butter
1½ tsp cumin seeds, toasted and roughly crushed
1 tsp chilli flakes

Heat the oven to its highest setting 240C (220C)/475F/gas 9. Put the butter in a medium, ovenproof saucepan on a medium-high heat and, once it’s melted, add the onions, garlic and half a teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring from time to time, for 25 minutes, until the onions are caramelised.

Meanwhile, toss the aubergines in a medium oven tray with a tablespoon of olive oil and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, then roast for 15 minutes, until partly cooked. Remove from the oven, but leave it turned on.

Put all the ingredients for the anchovy yoghurt in the small bowl of a food processor, blitz until almost smooth – you want a few flecks of green and bits of anchovy – then scrape into a bowl and set to one side.

Now make the cumin butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan on a medium heat, and leave to cook for three to five minutes, until the solids at the bottom start to brown and smell nutty. Remove from the heat, then stir in the cumin seeds, chilli flakes and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt.

Spoon half the anchovy yoghurt and half the cumin butter all over the aubergines, and save the rest to serve on the side. Scatter with the picked dill and serve warm or at room temperature.

Sweet’n’sour peppers with pine nut crumble

1kg red romano peppers
75ml olive oil
2½ tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1¼ tsp cumin seeds
30g pine nuts
Salt
1⅔ tbsp (5g) coriander, finely chopped

Heat the oven to its highest setting – 240C (220C fan)/475F/gas 9 – and line a large baking tray with kitchen foil. Put the peppers and a tablespoon of the oil on the tray, toss to coat, then roast for 20 minutes, until the peppers are charred in places and softened. Leave to cool slightly and, once they’re cool enough to handle, gently pull away and discard the stems, skin and seeds (don’t worry if you don’t get all the seeds). Tear each pepper in half lengthways.

Put the cumin in a small frying pan on a medium-high heat, and toast for two to three minutes, until fragrant. Tip into a mortar and roughly crush the seeds. Return the pan to a medium heat, add the pine nuts and toast, stirring, for three to four minutes, until nicely browned. Tip into the mortar, add an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, then roughly crush the nuts with the cumin – you don’t want it too fine. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then stir in the coriander.