Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

• servings: 4 servings
• total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon spicy bean paste (douban la jiang)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2-3 Japanese eggplants (about 6 cups)

2 scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)

3 tablespoons oil

4 oz. ground pork (110g; ground chicken or ground turkey can also be substituted)

2 thin slices ginger (julienned)

10 dried red chilies

4 cloves garlic (finely minced)

1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

Directions

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Wash the eggplants, cut the ends off and slice them into equal sized pieces. After slicing, separate the green and white portions of the scallions into roughly two piles.

Over very high heat, heat a tablespoon of oil in your wok. Add half of the eggplant and let it sear until brown on all sides. You can lower the heat if it looks like they're starting to burn. You want to cook the eggplant for about 5 minutes until they start to get soft and have a nice sear. Take this first batch of eggplant out of the pan, heat a second tablespoon of oil, and do the same with your second batch. Set all the cooked eggplant aside on a plate.

Set the heat to medium high and add the last tablespoon of oil to the wok, along with the ground pork. After the pork has browned, add the ginger and cook for a minute to let it crystalize with the pork. Stir in the whole red chili peppers and the minced garlic, and after a minute, turn the heat back up to high. Add the eggplant back in, along with the stir-fry sauce, the white parts of the scallions, and the shaoxing wine. Stir-fry everything together for another 2 minutes, making sure everything is well-combined.

Toss in the rest of the scallions and stir-fry for another 20 seconds. Plate and serve immediately with white rice.

Nutrition

• Calories: 244 kcal
• Total Fat: 18 g
• Saturated Fat: 3 g
• Cholesterol: 20 mg
• Sodium: 486 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 13 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4 g
• Total Sugars: 8 g
• Protein: 7 g