A Recipe for Gorontalo Poki-Poki

Here’s the recipe for this eggplant in a coconut chili sauce dish as told to me by Ibu Elsje. It should serve 2-4 people. You can also use the same recipe with chicken or tofu instead of eggplants.

5 eggplants (or 2-3 American sized ones)

3 red chili peppers

2 candle nuts (skip them if you don’t have them)

1 white onion

2 red onions

4 twigs of fresh basil leaves

½ pandan leaf (skip if you can’t find this)

1 spring onion

2 lemon leaves

1 lemon grass

1 small box of coconut milk

2 cups of white rice

coconut oil

salt

1. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the chili peppers and candle nuts. Add the white onion and the two red onions. Pound everything together until you have a nice thick paste. Put this aside.

2. Wash the eggplants, trim the stems and peel most of the hard green collars. Cut each eggplant in half and then in half again, leaving the eggplant attached to the stem. Cover the eggplants with a dusting of salt and wait about two minutes.

3. Sauté the eggplants in coconut oil until they turn dark and soft. Remove from pan.

4. Using the rest of the oil in the pan, heat up the chili paste until it turns a brown color.

5. Add in the collection of green things – basil, pandan, a chopped spring onion, lemon leaves and lemon grass. Mix these all together and then pour in the coconut milk. Let the mixture come to a boil and then turn off the gas.

6. Add the eggplant to the pan and mix together with the sauce. Serve over rice.

Selamat makan!