Eggplant with pork and garlic
Originating in Sichuan, this recipe is now well established throughout China and especially in Cantonese cuisine.
Ingredients
- 100 g minced pork
- 2 Japanese or Chinese eggplants
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 pickled chili
- 0,5 tsp doubanjiang (spicy fermented soybean and broad bean paste)
- 2 spring onions
- 60 ml beef stock≈ 60 g
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- vegetable oil
Marinade
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine (Shaoxing)
- 0,3 tsp sugar (brown or other)
- 0,5 tsp cornstarch (diluted with the same amount of water)
- white pepper
Method
- 1Mix the marinade ingredients with the minced pork. Let marinate for 10 minutes.
- 2Cut the eggplants into 1 cm x 5 cm strips if using the European variety (removing the seed-filled center of the eggplant). For long eggplants, I like to cut a 3-4 cm piece on the bias, rotate 45 degrees, cut again keeping the same angle, and so on. This technique allows for more even cooking and keeps both skin and flesh on each piece. Set aside.
- 3Chop the garlic, cut the spring onions into segments.
- 4Heat oil in a pan over high heat. When it starts to smoke, add the meat, spread it out, don't touch and let it sear for 1 minute. Stir, don't touch and let it sear for another minute. Lower to medium heat, add the doubanjiang and vinegar, stir and cook while stirring continuously until the meat is fully cooked. Set aside.
- 5Keep a little of the oil (1 tbsp) from cooking the meat that you will put back into the pan to cook the eggplants. But you can discard the rest of the oil to remove fat from the meat and lighten the dish.
- 6Add the eggplants to the pan, still over medium heat. Cook for one minute without stirring. Stir, cook for another minute without stirring. Lower to low heat and continue cooking for approximately 5 minutes covered, stirring regularly.
- 7Add the beef stock, the meat, the soy sauce and the oyster sauce. Stir and finish cooking the eggplants. They should be soft and tender but keep their texture and not fall apart.
- 8Taste, add soy sauce if more salt is needed. If too salty or too spicy, add a little sugar.
- 91 minute before the end of cooking, add the garlic, stir. 10 seconds before the end of cooking, add the spring onions and sesame oil, stir.
Notes
This dish pairs with white rice. Restaurants tend to fry the eggplants for faster cooking and to keep that pretty purple color that unfortunately is lost with classic cooking. I prefer to pan-fry them because much less oil is wasted and above all the final dish is much less greasy. More elongated in shape, you'll find Chinese or Japanese eggplants at any Asian grocer. Otherwise use Western eggplants, taking care to remove the core of the eggplant to limit the number of seeds. If needed, replace the doubanjiang with another spicy fermented bean and soybean paste (chili bean paste) such as Korean Gochujang or Hong Kong Toban Djan. Here is my homemade Asian beef stock recipe. Replace with your usual beef stock or even water if needed. Here is my pickled chili recipe. But you can absolutely use fresh hot or mild chilies (long mild Thai chilies or mild chilies from the Landes) as you wish.
