My Chinese language language language language eggplant recipe selections tender eggplant cooked until caramelized, then served in an umami glaze. It’s an aromatic, powerful, restaurant-worthy recipe!
Need additional Aside facet dish recipes? Try my Korean spicy noodles, summer season season season rolls, crab Rangoon, and egg drop soup.
Eggplant has an unfortunate standing for being finicky to arrange dinner dinner dinner. The highway between mushy and overcooked versus extraordinarily environment friendly and chewy is kind of thin, nonetheless should you occur to manage to this recipe, you gained’t have that draw again.
The trick is to arrange dinner dinner dinner the eggplant shortly at a extreme heat. This retains the pores and pores and pores and pores and skin crisp whereas the center stays tender. Pair that with a spicy, zesty sauce, and you have got a memorable facet which can steal the current!
What’s Chinese language language language language eggplant?
The arrange refers to every the kind of eggplant and the simplest approach it’s prepared on this recipe. Not like Japanese eggplant or Italian eggplant, it has a barely sweeter model, fewer seeds, and thinner pores and pores and pores and pores and skin, resulting in a additional delicate texture.
Desk of Contents
- Why I actually like this recipe
- Components wished
- Straightforward strategies to arrange dinner dinner dinner Chinese language language language language eggplant
- Arman’s recipe concepts
- Storage instructions
- Ceaselessly requested questions
- Additional eggplant dishes
- Chinese language language language language Eggplant Recipe (Recipe Card)
Why I actually like this recipe
- It’s naturally vegan. This recipe has no fish sauce, so it’s 100% vegan. Swap the soy sauce for tamari, and it’s even gluten-free!
- No additional extraordinarily environment friendly or chewy eggplant. Cooking it at a extreme heat with a considerable quantity of sauce helps to caramelize the pores and pores and pores and pores and skin and supplies it the suitable chew.
- Among the finest facet or major course. Pair it with my beef bulgogi or salt and pepper tofu for a whole meal, or do what I do and serve it on a mattress of Instantaneous Pot sushi rice and title it a day.
Components wished
- Chinese language language language language eggplant. Seek for agency eggplant with no bruising or mushy spots. They’ll must be reduce into skinny strips.
- Onion. Finely chopped.
- Sesame oil. To sauté the eggplant.
- Oil. To arrange dinner dinner dinner the rest of the weather. Sesame oil alone could also be too overpowering. Use a neutral oil like peanut oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil.
- Ginger and garlic cloves. Two wanted aromatics for any Asian recipe.
- Sesame seeds. For trend and texture.
- Tomato sauce. To assemble the sauce.
- Brown sugar. Affords sweetness and caramelizes the eggplant.
- Sriracha. For spicy trend. Add kind of counting on how spicy you want it.
- Chili garlic sauce. Furthermore usually often known as sambal oelek.
- Soy sauce. For umami and savory trend. Be at liberty to benefit from tamari, low-sodium, or gentle soy sauce if wished.
- Rice vinegar. For acidity and refined sweetness.
- Water. To assemble the sauce and make the cornstarch slurry.
- Cornstarch. Blended with water to thicken the sauce.
- Scallions. For garnish.
Straightforward strategies to arrange dinner dinner dinner Chinese language language language language eggplant
I’ve included step-by-step pictures below to make this recipe easy to manage to at dwelling. For the whole printable recipe instructions and ingredient components, scroll to the recipe card on the underside of this put up.
Step 1- Sauté the eggplant. Add sesame oil to a vast non-stick skillet or wok over medium heat. As quickly as scorching, add the eggplant and sauté for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Put apart in a vast bowl.
Step 2- Sauté the onion. Add one tablespoon of oil, then the onion, and put together dinner dinner dinner for 5-6 minutes. Add it to the bowl with the eggplant.
Step 3- Put collectively dinner the aromatics. To the equal skillet, add the remaining oil. Add garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds, and sauté for two minutes.
Step 4- Assemble the sauce. Add tomato sauce, sugar, Sriracha, sambal, soy sauce, vinegar, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes over low heat until it begins to thicken. In a small bowl, combine water and cornstarch.
Step 5- Assemble. Add the eggplant and onion as quickly as additional to the skillet, add the cornstarch slurry, and put together dinner dinner dinner until thick. Serve with sesame seeds and inexperienced onions.
Arman’s recipe concepts
- Cut back the eggplant into equal-sized slices. In order that they put together dinner dinner dinner additional evenly.
- Want softer eggplant? Pat dry the eggplant with paper towels and enhance the put together dinner dinner meal time by 2 minutes.
- How about additional crispy eggplant? Pat dry the eggplant, then toss the slices in cornstarch previous to cooking.
Storage instructions
To retailer: Retailer the cooled eggplant in an airtight container and retailer it contained within the fridge for 3-4 days.
To freeze: Swap the eggplant to a freezer-safe container and freeze for as a lot as six months.
Reheating: Microwave in 30-second intervals or a skillet over medium-high heat until warmth.
Ceaselessly requested questions
Positive, you might eat the pores and pores and pores and pores and skin on account of it’s pretty skinny and easy to arrange dinner dinner dinner.
Chinese language language language language eggplant has thinner pores and pores and pores and pores and skin, fewer seeds, and is normally a lighter purple coloration than totally numerous sorts of eggplant. The inside is also completely totally completely totally different, on account of it’s additional pale in coloration and sweeter in trend than widespread eggplant.
Additional eggplant dishes
Add the sesame oil to a vast non-stick skillet or wok and place over medium heat. Add the eggplant and sauté for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Take away from the skillet.
Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil, add the onion, and put together dinner dinner dinner for 5-6 minutes, until translucent. Take away from the heat and add it to the eggplant.
To the equal skillet, add the remaining oil. Add garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds, and saute for two minutes, until fragrant.
Add tomato sauce, sugar, Sriracha, sambal oelek, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes over low heat until it begins to thicken. Whereas that’s simmering, combine the water with cornstarch to make a slurry.
Add the eggplant and onion as quickly as additional to the skillet, then add the cornstarch slurry. Put collectively dinner each difficulty collectively until thick.
Take away from the heat, sprinkle with sesame seeds and finely chopped scallions.
TO FREEZE: Swap the eggplant to a freezer-safe container and freeze for as a lot as six months.
TO REHEAT: Microwave in 30-second intervals or a skillet over medium extreme heat until warmth.
Serving: 1servingPower: 207kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 4gFat: 11gSodium: 1410mgPotassium: 450mgFiber: 5gVitamin A: 165IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 44mgIron: 1mgNET CARBS: 20g
Initially printed April 2023, updated and republished September 2024