Photo: billy_brown / Flickr

This pickled vegetarian dish is a favourite in Sri Lanka. Made up of aubergines and a variety of herbs, spices and vinegar, pahi can be stored in the fridge for a week. Preparation time is about 20 minutes, draining time is two hours and cooking time is about three-quarters of an hour. You will need turmeric, aubergines, ground coriander, cumin and cinnamon, fennel seeds, vegetable oil, fresh red chillies, paprika and some castor sugar, besides the ingredients for a blended spice paste.

Ingredients

Measure out and prepare the following ingredients to serve four: 2 level teaspoons each of salt and turmeric (mixed together), 500 grams of finely sliced aubergines, 1 tablespoon each of ground coriander and cumin, ½ teaspoon of fennel seeds (crushed), 3 de-seeded red chillies (fresh and chopped), 1 teaspoon of paprika, ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and some vegetable oil.

The blended spice paste requires 1 chopped onion, 3 chopped garlic cloves, 2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger (chopped), 1 tablespoon of black mustard seeds and 150 ml of malt vinegar. Place all these spice paste ingredients into a blender and blend into a thick paste.

Preparation

Dry-fry the coriander, cumin and crushed fennel seeds for three minutes, while stirring. Allow to cool.

Rub the turmeric and salt all over the aubergine slices and leave the slices to drain for a good two hours. Pat them dry and heat 1 cm of oil in a pan. Cook the slices in batches for two minutes on each side in the hot oil. When the slices are golden coloured and crisp, drain them.

Drain off the oil from the pan, leaving 4 tablespoons of oil inside. Add the blended spice paste and cook on a low heat for five minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the dry-fried spices, cinnamon, paprika and chopped chillies and cook for another two minutes.

Cook the pahi

Now add the prepared aubergine and 170 ml of water. Cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the sugar towards the end of the cooking, stir and serve.

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