Braised Eggplant With Garlic Sauce

Here's a chance to practice your skill with a cleaver. Although you can make this garlicky dish from Sichuan with ground pork, I prefer chopped pork for its more pleasing texture contrast to the creamy eggplant. Still, if you want to use your food processor, by all means do so.

Type: Vegetables
Serves: 4 people

Recipe Ingredients

4		Asian eggplants - (abt 1 1/4 lbs)
		= (or 1 regular eggplant)
2 teaspoons	10ml	Salt
		Sauce
1/4 cup	59ml	Chicken broth
2 tablespoons	30ml	Soy sauce
1 tablespoon	15ml	Dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon	15ml	Balsamic vinegar
		= (or dark Chinese rice vinegar)
2 teaspoons	10ml	Sesame oil
2 teaspoons	10ml	Hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons	10ml	Ckili paste
		Cooking
2 tablespoons	30ml	Vegetable oil
1/4 lb	113g / 4oz	Coarsely-chopped boneless pork
1 tablespoon	15ml	Minced garlic
1 teaspoon	5ml	Minced ginger
2		Green onions, including tops - thinly sliced
2 tablespoons	30ml	Coarsely-chopped water chestnuts
2 teaspoons	10ml	Cornstarch - dissolved in
4 teaspoons	20ml	Water
		Slivered green onions, including top - for garnish

Recipe Instructions

Peel egg plant and cut it into 1/2-inch cubes. Place it in a medium bowl, sprinkle with salt, and toss gently to mix. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Drain and rinse the eggplant and squeeze it dry.

Place a wok or wide frying pan over high heat until hot. Add the vegetable oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the pork and cook until browned and crumbly, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the eggplant, green onions, and water chestnuts; mix well. Add the sauce. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and braise until the eggplant is tender and the liquid is slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens. Garnish with slivered green onions.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Tip: Asian eggplant has a tender skin which does not require peeling. Do so only if you want the color of the dish to be light rather than tinged with purple.

Source:
Everybody's Wokking by Martin Yan, (Harlow & Ratner, 1991)

Rating

Average rating:

Unrated, please add a rating

Submit your rating:

Click a star to rate this recipe.