Recipe for: Chinese Eggplants with Minced Pork

Description

Chinese eggplants with minced pork (肉末烧茄子) and spicy garlic sauce is a humble and popular dish in Chinese kitchens. A small amount of minced pork can significantly improve eggplants's taste, enriching the layers of a humble eggplant stir-fry. For vegan readers, you can skip minced pork or try this eggplant with garlic sauce.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Sichuan
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2

Nutrition Information

Calories: 354kcal
Carbohydrates: 14g
Protein: 7g
Fat: 29g
Saturated Fat: 4g
Cholesterol: 20mg
Sodium: 434mg
Potassium: 538mg
Fiber: 6g
Sugar: 7g
Vitamin A: 85IU
Vitamin C: 5.9mg
Calcium: 18mg
Iron: 0.9mg

How to make eggplants turn soft?

Though eggplants can be extremely delicious, they are not liked by every housewife cook as they are hard to handle and need lots of oil. I have been trying to search for ways to reduce the oil absorbed by eggplants. The final solution is to soak the eggplants in slightly salty water and let them absorb the water as much as possible. The water contained in the eggplants can help to accelerate the cooking process and make the eggplants much softer. Eggplants are quite yummy when well cooked. The soft texture can greatly absorb the spicy garlic sauce and endow the dish with great flavor.
If you want the eggplants to be crispier and harder, you can spread some cornstarch to coat the eggplants before cooking.

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp. Doubanjiang: Doubanjiang is also named broad bean paste, a spicy chili sauce from Sichuan cuisine, made from broad beans. It has a lovely spicy flavor that combines well with most Chinese dishes. If you don't have doubanjiang, you can use other chili paste to replace it.

1/4 cup Minced pork: Minced pork is used in a very small amount. We need to fry minced pork until crispy and aromatic. The aroma of the minced pork can improve the taste of the dish greatly even with a very small portion.

2 Garlic cloves, 2 green onion, a few slices of ginger: to create a basic savory base for braised eggplants.

1 tbsp. Light soy sauce: to provide a basic savory taste.

3 tbsp. Cooking oil

1/8 tsp. Salt and sugar

1/2 tsp Sesame oil

1/2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine

2 Long Asian eggplants

Instructions

1. Remove the ends of Asian eggplants and then cut them into small cubes (for the best flavor, try to cut each cube with some skin). Transfer them into a large pot filled with water, add a pinch of salt, and soak for 10 minutes. Add a weight if necessary to make sure the eggplants is well soaked. Set aside to drain completely.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok and fry the eggplants for 6-9 minutes until the eggplants become soft and withered. Transfer the eggplants out and leave the oil in.
3. Add marinated pork to stir-fry until aromatic and slightly golden brown. Transfer to the edges of the wok and place the doubanjiang in to fry for another 1 minute. Slow down the fire.
4. Add garlic, ginger and scallion onion until aromatic.
5. Return the eggplants into the pot along with fried minced pork, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well. Serve with chopped green onion garnished.

Serving Advices

It is strongly recommended to serve this dish hot and directly out of the wok. The dish makes a good combination with light Chinese style soups or steamed rice.
Store any leftovers in a container in the fridge, and recook with oil in the wok for a few minutes or reheat by microwave to serve again.

Source Attribution:

China Sichuan Food's recipe for chinese eggplants with minced pork