Recipe: bibo’s Piri Piri Eggplant

Double Bay’s bibo wine bar is an oasis for wine and food lovers. Portuguese-born Head Chef Jose Silva spent some 12 years at Guillaume Brahimi’s Opera House venue, before branching out into a bakery and then returning to the restaurant business to run the kitchen at bibo. 

Deceiving from the street, once you enter bibo wine bar you’ll see there is a large area at the back of the building that makes up the majority of the restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed and inviting, and it is as well suited to a corporate lunch as it is to a casual meal with friends

Serves: 4

Ingredients

4 medium size eggplants

Method

Place chilli, garlic, ginger, eschallot, red wine vinegar and salt in a food processor or blender. Blend to make a paste.

Heat olive oil in a pan on the stovetop. Add the paste. Continue to stir as it comes to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Over a stovetop flame, cook the eggplant until completely charred on the outside and soft in the middle. Leave to cool. When cool enough to touch, gentle peel the charcoal away. Set aside, keep warm.

Peel and slice potato with a mandoline to 2mm. Cut slices into matchsticks. Dry with paper towel. Add canola oil to a pot. Bring to 170 degrees. Fry the potato matchsticks until golden.

To serve:

Spoon 1 tablespoon of piri piri sauce onto serving plate. Place warm eggplant on top of sauce. Spoon on more piri piri sauce to dress the eggplant. Top with matchstick potato. Finish with chopped coriander.