Hello friends and not-yet-friends!
Welcome back to Mary's Test Kitchen where we'll be making Chinese Deep Fried Eggplant
with spicy garlic sauce.
It's a rich restaurant-style dish; buttery on the inside, crispy on the outside, and
coated with intense flavours from fermented black bean, garlic, and spicy hot chilies.
But not too spicy, unless you want it to be.
This is your Chinese eggplant, and there are no rules.
Except, try to use Chinese eggplant.
This long kind rather than the big round Globe eggplants.
These have thinner skins, less bitter.
Only true for eggplants, not humans.
To prevent the eggplant from browning, submerge it in cold salted water right after cutting
it up.
The pieces will float so you can use a bowl or plate to weigh them down.
In another bowl, combine cornstarch with salt and white pepper.
Remember, the full recipe with exact amounts and directions is on marystestkitchen.com,
link in the description.
After draining the eggplant very well, you can toss them in.
Mix with your hands so every piece gets coated.
You should have all your other ingredients prepped before we go to the stove.
Crushed or minced garlic and garlic black bean sauce (which is made from fermented black
beans).
You'll need a little sugar and some soy sauce.
Also, vegetarian mushroom sauce.
It's made as a one-to-one substitute for oyster sauce and I think it tastes better than oyster
sauce actually.
Find it where Chinese groceries are sold or see the link I left in the description to
find it online.
Finally, you'll want chopped scallion and chopped fresh hot chilies.
Use more or less depending on your spice tolerance.--
First, we'll fry the eggplant.
Get a few inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot up to 365°F. Use a thermometer for best
results, but I've showed you the ol bubbly chopstick technique before.
If lots of bubbles stream from the chopstick when you stick it in, it's hot enough.
Then fry the eggplant in small batches so the temperature doesn't drop too much.
Oil that isn't hot enough will drench into your eggplant and make it soggy rather than
what we want: soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.
About 2 or 3 minutes per batch will do it; just until the outside is just slightly turning
color.
If your eggplant browns faster than that, your oil is too hot.
And drain them on paper towels to get that excess oil.
Never ever handle a camera while deep-frying manually.
That is, never ever ever do what I'm doing.
It's dangerous and you'll overcook your eggplant; like I'm doing right now.
If you overcook the eggplant, it's not the end of the world but it won't be buttery on
the inside.
The inside will practically disappear and you'll have hollow pieces of eggplant.
Good thing we're doing this in batches.
If you don't want to deep-fry eggplant, well, you don't want to make this dish.
You can, however, steam the eggplant and use that instead for a dish with the same awesome
flavours, almost, but a completely different texture that's delicious in it's own right.
Or try my eggplant and lentil stir-fry.
Similar but also packed with protein.
But that's not what we're going for today.
Today is for indulgence, for comfort, for celebrations.
Once all your eggplant is fried, go on to another pan with a little oil over medium
high heat.
Add the garlic and garlic black bean sauce.
Stir-fry so it becomes fragrant but don't let it burn.
Then add scallions and red chilies; stir-fry about 30 seconds until the scallions turn
bright.
Add sugar, soy sauce, and vegetarian mushroom sauce.
Give the cornstarch slurry a mix, then add it to the pan as well.
Turn off the heat as the sauce thickens.
Lastly, add the fried eggplant to heat it through again.
Fold the sauce over everything gently with a spatula.
And you're pretty much done.
Garnish with scallions and cilantro if you like cilantro.
And this is perfect on plain steamed rice.
The eggplant is soft and creamy but still has crispy edges here and there for a wonderful
contrast.
And the sauce is spicy but not super spicy; salty with that delicous fermented black bean
flavour.
Not too bitter because the sugar balances it out.
I really hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!
And let me know what other Chinese restaurant recipes you want to see.
Whether it's an traditional Chinese classic dish or not, I love veganizing recipes and
sharing them with you.
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Thanks so much for watching, friends.
Bye for now!