When making this dish, Chef Jean-Paul El Tom wants you to be careful with the crackers. The chef of Baba’s Place says, ‘The crackers are sticky while cooking so beware and try not to touch them too much. If you don’t have a siphon gun for the cracker just use any crunchy disk like fried Lebanese bread.’ The wafer thin medallions are the vehicle supporting the two main elements of the dish: cold eggplant and hot eggplant.
The dish is a staple at cult restaurant Baba’s Place, Inner west Sydney’s purveyor of self-titled ‘Suburban Cuisine’, an amalgam of migrant communities hailing from anywhere between Albania to Lebanon. El-Tom boasts a heritage from the former. He says, “Being able to cook and open venues that perpetuate the migrant story and doing it alongside so many pros is very special. Accessing the best produce Australia has is also a great perk – Shout out to Greg from Block 11 organics.”
El Tom is a fan of minimal splutter and playing around with all the different variations of the pepper family. He’s also a fan of probiotic experimentation, saying “I always enjoy playing around with various fermented dairy of differing compositions. I am also deeply interested by yoghurt culture. Many generations before me have fed this fascination, which is interesting as it has developed over time with its own character.” All of this falls under the port of call at Baba’s Place, as well as the newly re-opened Corner 75, a collaborative project between El Tom’s team and the people behind Sixpenny Restaurant.
Under El Tom’s expert culinary eye, expect hunks of Hungarian schnitzel dressed with lemon, taramasalata on shokupan toast, and lots and lots of eggplant.
To make his signature dish, there are several elements outside of eggplant: cashew cream, grated tomato and xantham gum for the crackers are the unsung heroes propping the dish up. Then add paprika for the tomatoes, as well as a healthy glug of olive oil.
El-Tom’s hot and cold eggplant is about hard and fast cooking, patience and assembly. To put everything together as they do at Baba’s, place a little spoon of the cashew cream on the bottom of the plate. Then directly ontop, place a cold eggplant directly on top of the sauce followed by a cracker and press down gently to form a strong base. This foundation will become the concentrated base of everything. Dress the cracker with more lashings of cashew sauce, and repeat – there should be two full cold stacks in front of you. The penultimate step (and garnish) is the hot eggplant disk, which should be covered generously with cashew sauce. Top that off with the seasoned tomato, and finish with extra virgin olive oil and cracked black pepper.
Baba’s Place Hot and Cold Eggplant
Hot and Cold Eggplant
For the cashew cream
- 300g soaked cashews raw (overnight)
- 60g white soy
- 50g lemon juice
- 200g iced water water
- 20g garlic
- Blend all on high until very smooth
- Reserve in fridge
For the eggplants
- 2 eggplants peeled
- Some salt
- Slice the eggplants into 1.5cm thick rounds
- Leave a few (3) raw rounds to fry later
- Salt the raw rounds on both sides and leave to draw moisture out for 30 mins
- Wash the rounds under cold water to remove salt and leeched liquid
- Fry the eggplants in olive oil in a pan. Make sure the eggplants are mostly covered.
- Flip once to colour and cook all the way through
- drain them on a parchment paper and let cool in the fridge
For the cracker
- 50g tapioca starch
- 50g rice flour
- 5g xantham gum
- 1300g cold filtered water
- siphon gun to aerate mix if you have
- frying oil
- Blend until no lumps
- Charge the mixture in siphon gun (1 charge) and shake shake shake
- Discharge the mix into a small bottle
- Make little circles using the bottle of mixture directly into hot oil at 180C. 5cm diameter
- Cook until completely crispy. Flip once.
- Drain on a kitchen towel and reserve for platting
For the grated tomato:
- 3 grated tomato (strained)
- 2 lemons (juiced)
- salt
- Extra V olive oil
- 1 small spoon smoked paprika (optional)
- Place the strained tomatoes in a bowl and season with the rest until you are happy with it it should taste like a well seasoned spoon of grated tomato and hold its own
Once the eggplants in the fridge have cooled, fry off the final two rounds of eggplant. Season the hot and cold eggplant with salt.
**At this point you can arrange the hot and cold eggplant with all the components as you like. Here is a suggestion as to how we do it at Baba’s Place.
- Place a little spoon of the cashew cream on the bottom of the plate
- Place a cold eggplant directly on top of the sauce followed by a cracker and press down gently to form a strong base
- Dress the cracker with some more cashew sauce
- repeat step 2 and 3 – now you should have two full cold stacks
- Finish by placing the hot eggplant disk on top and covering genourously with cashew sauce
- Top with the seasoned tomato
- finish with some extra v olive oil and fresh black pepper
