Soba noodles with eggplant and mango

I am not a pasta salad fan although I'll admit that I have had some that have been very interesting.
This one is made with soba noodles (available at Whole Foods and Asian shops.) In all my years of making soba it never occurred to me to make it this way.

Found this recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi's book "Plenty" which Natalia gave me for my birthday. It is a spectacular book of all vegetarian dishes. Truly wonderful. Did a little guessing work on the grams bit! Very tasty, refreshing and perfect for spring and summer.

Serves 6

1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp of brown sugar (caster sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
3/4 cup of safflower oil
2 eggplants, cut into small cubes
1 package of soba noodles (approx 250g)
1 large ripe mango cut in small pieces or diced (doesn't matter)
1/4 cup of chopped basil leaves
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 a red onion very thinly sliced
1 tbsp of soy sauce (my addition)

First make the dressing. In a small saucepan gently warm the vinegar, sugar and salt for up to 1 minute, just until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the garlic, chili and sesame oil and soy sauce. Allow to cool, then add the lime zest and juice.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan and shallow fry the eggplant in three or four batches. Once golden brown remove to paper towels to soak up the oil.

Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally. They should take 5-8 minutes to become tender but still retaining a bite. Drain and rinse well under running cold water. Shake off as much of the excess water as possible and leave to dry on a tea towel.

In a mixing bowl toss the noodles with the dressing, mango, eggplant, half of the herbs and the red onion. You can now leave this aside for 1-2 hours. When ready to serve, add the rest of the herbs and mix well, then pile on a plate or in bowl. Let me know if you liked it or added anything!