Fish-eggplant koftas
SERVES 3–4 PEOPLE AS AN APPETISER
1 large eggplant
500g white fish fillet (wild-caught tarakihi, mid-water trawl hoki or pot-caught blue cod)
5 cayenne chilli peppers
15g flat-leafed parsley
30g coriander
2 small onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 heaped teaspoon sea salt olive oil, for frying
2 tomatoes
4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
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Roast the eggplant over the flame of a gas stove or on a barbecue. Char the eggplant for 10-15 minutes, turning several time. The skin of the eggplant should be blackened. Scoop out the pulp from the roasted eggplant and drain in a sieve for at least 2 hours. Then squeeze the pulp between your hands to remove any remaining liquid.
Dice the fish very finely. Deseed 1 cayenne pepper and finely dice; pluck herb leaves from the stems and finely chop. (You can also coarsely chop everything and put it through a meat grinder). Place the fish, cayenne pepper, herbs, onion garlic and eggplant in a bowl with the salt and knead well with your hands. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Rub your hands with olive oil, shape the chilled mixture into balls about 3-4cm in diameter and gently press flat. Put a large frying pan over high heat, add the olive oil and reduce the heat. Fry the koftas in the oil until crispy, about 3 minutes on each side. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the remaining cayenne peppers and simmer for a few minutes. Beat the yoghurt until creamy. Arrange the fisheggplant koftas, tomatoes and peppers on plates and serve with the yoghurt.