Fish Fragrant Eggplant

Name: Fish Fragrant Eggplant
Yield: Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar; 1 tablespoon oil; ½ teaspoon sugar; One ½ in (1.25 cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced; ¼ teaspoon dark soy sauce; 8 oz (250 g) Chinese or American eggplant, cut into 2 in (5 cm) length by ½ in (1.25 cm) thick; 1½ tablespoons hot bean sauce; 1 teaspoon soy sauce; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 heaping tablespoon chopped green onion (scallion); ½ teaspoon cornstarch; 2 tablespoons water; Oil, for deep-frying; ½ red finger-length chili, deseeded and cut into small pieces

Preparation info

Serves
4
as part of a multicourse meal

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Easy Chinese Recipes

By Bee Yinn Low

Published 2011

About

I wasn’t always a fan of eggplant, mostly because I’d never had an eggplant dish that wasn’t overcooked. The ones I’ve had are always mushy, squishy, and the vibrant purple color skin had turned to an unsightly brown. I have been hestiant to eat eggplant based on those bad experiences. My negative stereotypes about eggplant completely changed when I tried this Sichuan eggplant prepared by my friend—the eggplant retains the enticing purple color, the core is spongy and absorbs the piq