Serves 6
Roasted Hapuku:
6 Hapuku fillets
60g plain flour
Sea salt, to season
75ml olive oil
Mint leaves, freshly picked, to garnish
Coriander leaves, freshly picked, to garnish
1 Preheat oven to 220C. Lightly dust fillets with flour, shake off excess and season with salt.
2 Heat a large frying pan with oil, add fillets (skin side down) and put in over for 5 minutes. Turn fish and cook for another minute. Remove from pan and allow to rest in a warm place for 3 minutes.
3 Form mixture into 4 patties. Lightly coat patties with flour.
4 Put a spoonful of eggplant salad in the centre of each plate, top with a fillet and put some cucumber yoghurt next to fillet. Garnish with mint and coriander.
Spiced eggplant salad:
6 tomatoes
75ml olive oil
½ onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
70g sultanas
1 tbsp tomato paste
500g eggplant cut into 1cm cubes
250ml olive oil (extra)
150g cooked chickpeas
1 cup mint leave, chopped
1 cup coriander leaves, chopped
1 Remove cores from tomatoes and make a small crisscross in the top of each with a sharp knife. Plunge tomatoes in boiling water for 10 seconds then refresh in iced water. Peel tomatoes, cut in half, remove seed and chop flesh into small cubes. Keep to one side.
2 In a medium saucepan, sweat the onion, garlic and chilli in oil until soft. Add spices and sultanas and cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and a splash of water and cook for 5 minutes over low heat to make a thick tomato sauce. Correct the seasoning and allow to cool. Cook eggplant in small batches in oil (extra) until slightly brown. Drain and allow to cool.
3 Mix the eggplant, tomato sauce, chickpeas and chopped herbs together and leave at room temperature.
Cucumber yoghurt:
1 cucumber
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 cup mint, chopped
½ lemon, juiced
3 tbsp thick natural yoghurt
sea salt, to taste
1 Peel cucumber, cut in half, remove seeds with a small spoon and grate flesh into a bowl. Mix all ingredients together, seasoning with salt.