Spicy, crispy Chinese style eggplants in garlic & black-bean sauce
My family is not a fan of eggplant/brinjals. However I try to include it in our diet regularly with a few indian versions like baingan ka bharta, vangi dal (brinjal dal), added to sambhars. However this is never something the family looks forward to. The other day I tried making this chinese style eggplant and they devoured it!! It really doesn’t need anything else to go with it, but a steaming bowl of rice mixed with the fried and spicy eggplants go very well.
My friend in Singapore used to bring this in her lunchbox, crunchy crispy eggplants coated in this addictively spicy sauce. It always had me drooling and she was kind enough to give me her mom’s authentic recipe for these yummy eggplants. A few times, I sampled these in restaurants as well and the taste was super addictive always.
If you are bored with making eggplants, try this version, its such an amped up eggplant recipe. You wouldn’t miss the meat dishes, trust me!
I used Chill bean sauce/Toban Djan to spice up the sauce. If you don’t have it, simply replace with any chilli sauce you prefer, or fresh red chillis or even chilli oil. Find the recipe for chilli oil here. Try to choose the chinese eggplants that are longer and less round at the bottom than the usual indian varieties. These have lesser seeds in them, and are perfect for this recipe.
The recipe involves very few steps.
- Halve the eggplants and then slice them in 1 inch thick slices.
- Soak them for 20 minutes in salted cold water. Weigh them down with another pot of water, so that all the pieces remain submerged.
- While the eggplants are soaking, prep the remaining ingredients – Mince garlic, chop spring onions, slice the chillis and mix all the ingredients for the sauce
- Drain the eggplants and pat them dry
Chinese style eggplants
Ingredients
- 4 eggplants, medium sized long ones halved and sliced into thin slices
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 spring onion whites minced reserve the greens for garnish
- 2 red chillis sliced
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil + extra for frying eggplants
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp chilli bean sauce (Toban Djan)
- 1-2 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Wash the eggplants and soak it in salted water for atleast 5-10 minutes. Weigh the eggplants down with another vessel so that they remain submerged in water
- Drain the eggplants and gently pat dry
- Add the cornflour to the eggplants and mix to coat well.
- Heat a wok and add oil to deep fry the eggplants
- Fry the eggplant slices in batches until browned on both sides. Set aside to drain on absorbent kitchen paper
- Remove most of the oil, setting aside 2 tbsp of oil in the wok.
- Mix all the ingredients listed under sauce in a small bowl
- Add the minced garlic, chillis and spring onions and fry for a minute
- Pour the sauce into the wok
- When the mix starts bubbling, add the fried eggplant and toss to coat. Cook for a minute
- Switch off the heat and garnish with spring onion greens
- Serve with steamed rice.
