February 19, 2010 02:31:18
Posted By Gecko

Pea eggplant Thai food ingredient

Makua Puang - Solanum torvum

In the kitchen at our rural Thai house, we are often quizzed about one vegetable more than many others. Europeans may mistake them for peas, whilst some Asians assume they are unseasonally large green peppercorns.

A common ingredient in many Thai dishes, the Pea Aubergine (or Pea Egglpant) is a traditional ingredient in a Thai green curry or in Nam Phrik chilli dipping sauces. With a very slightly bitter flavour when raw, cooking these in a curry dissipates the bitterness and adds a subtle rounded flavour to the dish, whilst also enlivening it with the interesting popping texture of the baby aubergines when consumed.

In front of Green Gecko, our traditional Thai country villa, we grow our own pea aubergines. The berries of the 2-3m plant would normally turn yellow when ripe but for cooking we pluk them whilst still hard and green. Whilst we always prefer to use them fresh, those with only intermnittent access to them will be pleased to know that the pea aubergine can be frozen.

Quite why the pea aubergione should be known in some countries as the Devli's Fig or the Shoo-Shoo Bush is unclear, but consumption of the berries does seem rather limited, predominantly to Laos, Thailand, India and the Ivory Coast .
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Categories: thai food, gecko villa, green gecko, eggplant
 
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