Beer-Battered Aubergine Tacos with Salsa Bandera & Avocado Crema

This dish is heavily inspired by the delicious Baja fish tacos. The crisp batter, flakey fish, flavourful corn tortillas and all the accompaniments that come with, make for some of the best bites of food. I consciously have been trying to cut down wherever I can on all types of animal protein, mostly because since moving to London, my digestion hasn’t been happy, and having hard to digest foods makes everything worse.

These aubergine tacos are incredible. Each bite is well rounded, with crisp, creamy, soft textures as well as savoury, refreshing, zingy flavours. I’ve properly thought of every component which makes these tacos some of the best vegan tacos I’ve had.

Tip: If you don’t want to use alcohol, you can substitute it for sparkling water.

Serves: 3-4 people

Prep/cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients

For the Avocado Crema:

2 avocados

1 lime

salt

Method:

1. Place the avocado into a food processor or blender, blitz until completely smooth. Season with salt, and a squeeze of lime juice- enough for it to be slightly tangy. Set aside.

For the Salsa Bandera:

3 tomatoes, very finely diced

2 spring onions, sliced finely or 1 small white onion , diced finely

A handful of Coriander, minced

1/2 lime

salt

Method:

1. In a bowl, add the diced tomatoes, spring onion or onion, and coriander. Squeeze the lime juice and season with salt. Set aside.

For the Tacos:

2 aubergines, peeled and chopped into 5cm batons

1 cup (222ml) Lager

1 cup (129g) flour

1 tsp chipotle paste or chipotle en adobo, blitzed until smooth

Corn tortillas

1/4 of a cabbage or iceberg, sliced finely

salt

Method

1. In a bowl, add the peeled aubergine batons along with a generous pinch of salt. Mix the aubergine so that the salt is evenly dispersed. Let sit for 15 mins, to soften.

2. Meanwhile, add the lager into a bowl, and whisk in the flour and chipotle paste until no clumps are let. Let rest until the aubergine has finished softening.

3. Add enough oil into a pot to fill it to 1/3 full. Bring it up to 180°C on medium high heat.

4. When the aubergine is ready, give it a rinse and a quick dry. Add them to the batter, and coat every baton. When the oil is ready (you can check by adding a drop of batter, if it floats to the top and starts to sizzle, its ready) drop a few coated aubergines into the oil, and fry for 1-3 minutes, or until the batter has puffed, gone golden and is crispy. Remove from the oil, and place onto a wire rack or a kitchen paper lined plate. Continue frying until all pieces are done.

5. In the meantime, reheat the tortillas (in a dry pan on medium heat or straight on the gas) and place in a clean tea towel, so it stays warm.

6. Serve the tacos with a piece of crispy aubergine, some salsa bandera, avocado crema and some shredded iceberg or cabbage.