Braised Eggplant 紅燒茄子
Did you grow up hating eggplant? I did, well, hate is a strong word. I was very adversed to it. As a child in a very strict Chinese household, we were taught not to be picky eaters, a.k.a, eat everything. So I learned to eat the meat from the eggplant dish, or quickly swallow if it landed in my bowl. Well, I’m a new me, and now I like it. It’s a good day if I manage to find fresh, shiny, unbruised long Chinese eggplants at the Asian grocers. This recipe is more Shanghainese than Cantonese, but it’s delicious no matter which -nese it’s from. Better yet, it’s super quick to make. if you can’t find the long Chinese eggplant, the large Globe eggplants will work too.
Braised Eggplant
Savory, with a little bit of sweetness, there is no eggplant funk, at all.
Servings: 1 Dish
Ingredients
- 1 long Chinese eggplant
- 1 medium bowl water
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 inch ginger
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 stalk chopped green onion save the green for garnish
- 50 g pork cut into thin strips optional
Sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp water
- ½ tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Cut eggplant into large bite sizes, soak in water w 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp vinegar. There should be enough water to cover all the eggplants. Soak for 10 minutes.
- Pat dry the eggplants, do not wash off the salt and vinegar, you won’t taste the vinegar.
- Coat the eggplant w 1 tbsp cornstarch. This is optional, but it will let you brown the eggplant without using an excess amount of oil.
- Heat a large pan, put a generous amount of oil (~2T), lay the eggplant flat in the pan, let cook until it’s slightly golden, flip and cook the other side until it’s golden. Set aside.
- Combine the Sauce ingredients into a small bowl, mix well.
- Heat the pan, add 1 tsp oil and add minced ginger, minced garlic and the whites of the chopped green onion, stir fry until fragrant.
- Optionally, you can add some strips of pork meat, at this time. Stir-fry until the meat is browned.
- Add the eggplant, and pour in the sauce, quickly stir-fry until the eggplants are coated, and the sauce thickens.
- Garnish and serve.
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