I never ate eggplant until I was forty. My life was just not on a track that wandered through vegetables. Now I encounter eggplant in Italian and Chinese food weekly. As a kid, my Italian experience was limited to macaroni and cheese from Kraft. Our weekly take out of Chinese food was fan-tail shrimp, egg food young, and fried rice. No eggplant ever anytime anyway.
If I have an eggplant choice these days, I will go down the Chinese path any day or night. I believe the Chinese treatment of eggplant is spicily perfect.
In his lovely cookbook A. Wong: The Cookbook, chef Andrew Wong presents this dish which surprised even him. It is the most popular dish in his restaurant, one that offers a wonderful, full spectrum menu. Yet it is “simple” eggplant that is the winner. Andrew thinks the secret to this popularity is the balance of sweet, sour and spice. Equal parts, no pretense, no subtlety.
If you have avoided eggplant, too, or if you are obsessed with them, then here is a hot path to eggplant satisfaction.
Sichuanese Eggplant
Yield: serves 2
Ingredients:
- 10 ½ ounces baby eggplants
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons fermented chili bean paste
- ½ tablespoon ready-made black bean sauce
- 2 to 4 dried red chiles, cut widthwise into two pieces
- Pinch of chile flakes
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tablespoons Chinese red vinegar
- ½ cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 4 teaspoons sugar
Preparation:
Remove the tops from the baby eggplants and cut them in half lengthwise. Add the oil to a hot wok and lightly fry off the chili bean paste, black bean sauce, dried chiles, and chili flakes—you want to get the oil to change into a glowing red color.
Add the eggplant halves and lightly fry before adding the wine, red vinegar, stock, and sugar.
Cook until reduced slightly before serving.
Source: A. Wong, The Cookbook by Andrew Wong [Michell Beazley, 2015]