chinese food

Fried eggplant

Fried Eggplant – Chinese Style

This is one of those recipes that you think it might be complicated, but it is not. And is so delicious and healthy. Usually eggplant can absorb a lot of oil, but I chose to just coat them lightly and then fry them in a dry pan. And they are still equally delicious.

I tried also coating them first in starch and then fry them, but it is not worth the hustle. They have the same taste as just fried with little oil. I also made the variant of using ground meat, and they are also good, but really, on they own, they are as good as any other variant.

I like eggplant a lot, and I use it in various forms, experimenting with cooking methods and recipes. I think they are highly underestimated as a main ingredient, and people feel a little shy on using them. I am here to encourage you to try to incorporate them in your cooking habits and you will not be sorry about it.

This recipe has a Chinese origin. I like authentic Chinese food and I like to explore its cuisine and experiment a little bit. The recipe calls for Black bean garlic sauce, which can be found in Asian supermarkets. But if you don’t have one near you, you can substitute with some more garlic than the recipe calls, and some oyster sauce or hoisin sauce. And if those are not available either, then add some more soy sauce and a bit of water and starch slurry, just a spoon or two. We want a creamy consistency to coat the eggplant pieces.

Enough talking about them, I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know if you liked it.

Fried eggplant

Fried Eggplant – Chinese Style

A very easy and delicious classic takeout food, perfect for a quick dinner or lunch, with some white rice on the side.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 2

Ingredients
  

  • 2 eggplants 500g
  • oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • a piece of ginger
  • 1 scallion
  • salt
  • 1 Tbsp. black bean garlic sauce or oyster sauce, or hoisin sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. cooking wine optional
  • Sesame oil

Instructions
 

  • Cut the eggplant in finger length pieces. Drizzle some neutral oil to coat them lightly.
  • Mince garlic and ginger. Cut thinly the scallion.
  • Fry the eggplants in a dry pan, medium-high heat, turning them on all sides every 3 min, until they are soft and bendy. Set aside.
  • Heat the pan again, add some neutral oil and fry the garlic and the ginger until fragrant and lightly golden. Add the black bean garlic sauce, soy sauce, cooking wine. Stir for a few seconds.
  • Add the eggplant and coat everything with the sauce.
  • Add a little water if it looks too dry.
  • Add the scallion and sesame oil and serve.

Video

Keyword chinese food, eggplant, quick, savory, vegetables

Fried Eggplant – Chinese Style Read More »

Sichuan Double Fried Pork

Double Fried Pork – Sichuan style

This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes, it is sometimes spicy, other times just a little, depending on the pepper you use. Making it at home allows you to choose the level of hotness. And it is freaking addictive. It is great as part of a variety of Chinese dishes served at once, with rice, for sharing with your beloved ones.

I discovered this dish at a local authentic Chinese restaurant, where they have European style Chinese food menu, and other authentic ones, Sichuan or Cantonese. And when I discovered this later one, I just got hooked on the real Chinese food. I like food kind of spicy, so that did not scare me. But to be honest, not all dishes are hot hot hot. Some are none at all, and some are just mildly.

Anyway, I ate so many times this dish, that I pursued in discovering how to do it. There are a lot of recipes for this on the Internet, and I suppose there is not a right and a wrong way. My version resembles the one I eat in the restaurant from my neighborhood. But I am probably doing it slightly different, who knows…

It is not difficult to make, it does not take too much, and it is absolutely amazing. Only the boiling of the pork belly and then cooling it might take a while. But now, in winter, I just leave the peace of meet outside a little while I cut the vegetables, and it is ready to slice.

If you can find, search for a quite fatty piece of meat, and a thick one. Last time, I just found a smoked one, with more meat than fat, and a little skinny. But it worked just fine, so use what you can find.

The secret of this dish is to use Toban Djan, aka Chili Bean Sauce. You can probably find it in the Chinese supermarkets, it is quite common. It gives the dish the saltiness, some hotness and a lot of umami Flavor.

We like to eat it with rice, and some other lighter additional dish, like boiled Pak Choi, or cucumber salad, or braised eggplant, because this is quite a strong flavored dish.

I hope you give it a try and let me know if you got hooked as I did.

Sichuan Double Fried Pork

Double Fried Pork – Sichuan style

This is a spicy dish, typical from the Chinese Province Sichuan, it has a very strong and addictive flavor and is best paired with rice and boiled green leaves, like Pak Choi.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 150 g pork belly
  • 2 green peppers ~120 g
  • 8 small dried black Chinese mushrooms
  • 2 small onions
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 small pieces of fresh ginger
  • 1 scallion
  • 1 tsp Sichuan pepper corns
  • 2 Tbsps. soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsps. Chinese cooking wine optional
  • 1 heaped tsp Toban Djan Chili Bean Sauce
  • pinch of Chinese five spice
  • 2 Tbsp. oil

Instructions
 

  • Boil the pork belly with one piece of ginger, sliced, one onion, five spice, Sichuan pepper corns, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. cooking wine. Cover the meat with water. Boil until a chopstick pierces easily through the meat.
  • Take out the pork belly and cool completely.
  • In the remaining liquid, or in clean warm water, soak the black mushrooms.
  • Chop finely the ginger and the garlic.
  • Cut the onion and the pepper in big chunks.
  • Cut the cooled pork belly into thin slices.
  • In a wok drizzle the oil and place the pork slices in one layer.
  • Stir and turn occasionally the slices onto their other side until golden.
  • Make a place inside the middle and fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant, then add the peppers and the onion.
  • Stir fry until vegetables are a little cooked, but still crunchy.
  • Add the hydrated mushrooms, the Toban Djan, then the soy sauce, scallion and cooking wine.
  • Stir for a minute and then serve.

Video

Keyword chinese food, sichuan, spicy

Double Fried Pork – Sichuan style Read More »

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