Healthy Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce 凉拌茄子

Summer brings beautiful eggplants in the supermarket and lots of basil growing in my backyard. Combined with the hot weather, I always have a desire for something light, healthy and cool. This is a wonderful vegetarian side dish choice for summer. It is served cool, and amazingly easy to prepare without creating excessive heat in the kitchen.

This dish employs the blanching process - the eggplant is boiled in water for a short time and quickly plunged into iced water to halt the cooking process. Eggplants tend to get mushy easily when overcooked so blanching is a good technique to use here.

The easy sauce harmoniously integrates the 5 important taste elements: sweet (sugar), sour (black vinegar), savory (soy sauce & oyster sauce), spicy (red chilli) and bitter (herbs). Combined with aromatic basil leaves and garlic, it creates a surprisingly refreshing yet very tasty sauce that allows the natural flavors of the ingredients to shine.

If you do not have basil, this recipe works equally well with cilantro (also known as coriander). All you have to do is mix the sauce, drizzle it over the cooked eggplant and it's ready to be enjoyed!

HEALTHY CHINESE EGGPLANT WITH GARLIC SAUCE RECIPE
Serves 3

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Ingredients
2 Chinese eggplants
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 large bowl of iced water
1 Tbsp of basil, finely chopped (or replace with cilantro/coriander)
2 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp red chilli, finely chopped
1 Tbsp black vinegar
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

Steps:

1) Prepare the sauce by adding basil, garlic, red chilli, black vinegar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil into a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

2) Prepare a large bowl of iced water. Cut eggplant lengthwise into quarters before slicing into 2 inch (5 cm) length pieces.

3) Bring pot of water to boil. Once water boils, add white vinegar and eggplant. The white vinegar helps to minimize discoloration. Cook eggplant for 3 to 4 minutes.

4) Once eggplant is cooked, immediately transfer them into the bowl of iced water and soak for 2 minutes.

5) Remove eggplant from iced water, drain very well (can use paper towels to lightly dab) and drizzle sauce over it.