A PURPLE PASSION

Traditional and fusion cooking styles, regional and international ingredients and a new awareness of healthy eating are all factors contributing to an exciting time for Chinese cuisine. Pauline D Loh explores the possibilities.

They are mainly purple, but also come in white and green. They can be as small as a thumbnail or as big as a small football, and can be long and thin, egg-shaped or round.

This is the eggplant, also known as aubergine in certain European countries, and brinjal in Southeast Asia.