Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 557 kcal | 158 kcal |
| Protein | 3.3 g | 0.9 g |
| Fat | 46.4 g | 13.2 g |
| saturated | 6.4 g | 1.8 g |
| Carbohydrate | 27.4 g | 7.8 g |
| sugars | 25.7 g | 7.3 g |
| Fibre | 10 g | 2.8 g |
| Sodium | 63 mg | 18 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2.3 kg eggplant (about 5 medium), peeled or unpeeled
- 1 1/4 cups olive oil
- 1 1/4 cups balsamic vinegar
- 5/8 cup maple syrup
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pick an eggplant that feels heavy for its size with tight, glossy skin. A light one has already started drying out inside and has developed the bitter seeds that no marinade hides.
- Cut it into long strips of even width, about the size of a jerky strip. Eggplant collapses to roughly a third of its bulk, so cut them noticeably fatter than you want to eat them.
- Salt the strips and leave them in a colander for half an hour, then blot them. The flesh is water held in a sponge, and pulling some of it out now leaves somewhere for the marinade to go.
- Whisk the olive oil, balsamic, maple syrup and sriracha together before the eggplant meets any of them. Poured on separately, one strip takes the oil and the next takes the vinegar.
- Turn the strips through the marinade, season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate for at least two hours. Cold and time are what carry flavour past the surface of a vegetable this dense.
- Lift the strips out and let them drain rather than pressing them. Pressing squeezes out exactly the marinade you have just spent two hours getting in.
- Lay them on mesh with clear space around each one, because they will drip. A strip sitting in its own pooled oil stays greasy at that spot and never firms up.
- Give it 15 hours at 46 °C. Finished means chewy and leathery: fold a strip over and it should crease without snapping and without weeping oil along the fold.
- Cool them fully, then keep them sealed in the fridge for a fortnight. There is a quarter cup of oil through this batch, oil is the first thing to turn, and a warm cupboard is the wrong home for it.
