stir-fried eggplant with minced pork

This dish is called 魚香茄子 (yu heung ke zi in Cantonese), Chinese stir-fried eggplant with minced pork. Yu heung ke zi literally translates to ‘fish fragrant eggplant’, though this recipe does not actually have any fish ingredients at all.

This dish consists of stir-fried eggplants and pork in a spicy and savoury garlic sauce. This stir-fry sauce actually tastes very similar to another Chinese dish called mapo tofu, as the sauce also consists of doubanjiang, Chinese chilli bean paste.

In restaurants, the eggplants are often deep-fried, as this helps the eggplants retain its bright purple colour. However, since we’re making this at home, we can steam the eggplants instead.

ingredients for stir-fried eggplant with minced pork:

• 1 eggplant
• 300g minced pork
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 slice of ginger, minced
• 2 scallions, chopped

stir-fry sauce:

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• ½ tbsp doubanjiang (ground bean sauce)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp water

steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients needed to make the stir-fry sauce and set aside.
2. Finely chop the ginger, garlic and scallions and set aside. Leave the green part of the scallion as garnish.
3. Wash and cut the eggplant into strips (Note: I would prepare the eggplant last because it oxidises and changes colour pretty quickly). Then steam the eggplants at medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, until they are soft.
4. On high heat, add some cooking oil and saute the aromatics (ginger, garlic, scallions) until fragrant, then add the minced pork and stir-fry until fully cooked.
5. Add the sauce, then eggplants, and mix until the sauce thickens and everything is well combined. Serve with hot rice and enjoy.

tips:

• Chop and prepare the eggplants last, as it oxidises and changes colour really quickly.
• You’ll know the eggplants are cooked when you can easily pierce the eggplant with chopsticks. The texture should be soft and creamy, but firm enough to hold its shape.
• This dish is best paired with steaming hot white rice!

more Sichuan recipes:

• Hot and sour noodles (suan la fen)
• Spicy mala century egg

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