Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Sichuan Eggplant Braised in Fragrant Sauce


From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus, 2003.

Most of the work for this recipe was in the preparation for the cooking itself took little time.

The sauce was made first. This was simply a matter of combining all of the ingredients: soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, vinegar, salt and sesame oil.

The vegetables were prepared leaving the eggplants last so that they didn’t colour. Garlic was chopped. Ginger was chopped (less than the recipe called for). Spring onions were sliced finely. A tablespoon of chilli paste was got ready as well as a little water. The eggplants, the long variety, were halved and then cut into sections.



The wok was heated up with a little oil in it and the eggplant, the garlic and the ginger added and stir fried until the eggplant began to soften up. Then the spring onions and chilli paste were added and cooked for a couple more minutes.

At this stage the sauce was added and mixed in, then the water, and it was all covered and, on a low heat, cooked for a few minutes more. It was then ready to serve.

As usual when I try to cook Asian meals I don’t quite get the flavours right. I measure everything out carefully (except the ginger which always seems to be too much) and yet it never quite works. And so I have to get an expert friend to taste and adjust the flavours. Then I end up with a tasty meal.





Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

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