Braised Eggplant with Spicy Sauce 魚香茄子

This is one of my favorite ways to cook eggplant. It is a classic strongly-flavored Sichuan dish, simple to make and goes very well with rice.

This recipe makes use of chinese eggplant, which is deep-purple in color, and long in shape. Chinese eggplants tend to have a softer bite. There are other kinds of eggplants which may be round or oval in shape, with a firmer bite.

In restaurants they often deep-fry the eggplant first to retain the vibrant purple color. Deep-frying also helps to prevent the eggplant from turning mushy when cooked. As I do not like to deep-fry too often at home, I found pan-frying (with less oil) to be a good compromise here - it enjoys some of the benefits of deep-frying but without the excessive oil.

Eggplants tend to discolor, i.e. turn brown if left in open air for too long after it has been cut. So I cut them up last after everything else has been prepared. (Just for information: soaking eggplant in salt water after cutting also prevents discoloration)

Enjoy this simple and delicious dish!

RECIPE FOR BRAISED EGGPLANT WITH SPICY SAUCE

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Ingredients

420g chinese eggplant (3 medium size)

150g ground pork

3 tbsp cooking oil 

3 tsp garlic, minced

2 tsp ginger, grated

4 tsp spicy bean paste 辣豆瓣醬

1 stalk scallion, chopped

Sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chinese rice wine (Shaoxing)

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp black vinegar (Chinkiang) *

Cornstarch water

1 tsp cornstarch

3 tbsp water

* I have cooked this dish without black vinegar and it tastes very good too. You can omit it if you prefer.

Steps:

1) Measure and prepare the ingredients.
Mix sauce - soy sauce, chinese rice wine, sugar, black vinegar - in small bowl.
Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl.
Cut eggplant into very thick slices, and do it last to minimize discoloration.

2) Heat up 1 tbsp of oil over medium-high heat and pan-fry 1/2 of the eggplant (to avoid over-crowding). When golden-brown on one side, flip them over and brown other side. Eggplant should be almost but not completely cooked. Transfer first batch to plate.

Add another 1 tbsp oil and repeat with second batch. When done, transfer eggplant to plate and set aside.

3) Over high heat, heat up 1 tbsp of oil and add garlic, ginger and ground pork - pan-fry till pork is lightly browned. Add spicy bean paste and fry till aromatic.

4) Add pre-cooked eggplant back into pan. Add sauce and mix well.

5) Stir the cornstarch water before adding to pan, and mix well with ingredients. Once sauce thickens and coats the eggplant, dish up, sprinkle chopped scallion and serve. You can also serve in a heated clay-pot which will keep the eggplant nice and hot.