Sichuan Fried Eggplant
Submitted by baboose01
Battered eggplant slices deep-fried until crispy and drizzled with a spicy Sichuan sauce of chili bean paste, black vinegar, ginger, and tomato paste. A vegetarian Chinese dish with serious crunch and heat.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minEggplant can be a lot of things, but most people don’t expect it to be this exciting.
Thin slices get dipped in a light flour batter and fried in peanut oil until golden and shatteringly crisp on the outside, creamy and silky within. Then comes the sauce: chili bean paste, fresh ginger, scallions, Chinese black vinegar, tomato paste, dark soy, rice wine, and a hit of sugar, all wok-fried fast and thickened with cornstarch.
Pour that glossy, spicy, tangy sauce over the crispy eggplant and serve immediately. It’s the kind of vegetarian dish that makes meat eaters forget there’s no meat.
Kitchen Tips
- Don’t peel the eggplant. The skin holds the slices together during frying and adds a nice bit of texture.
- Let the batter rest for 20 minutes after mixing and straining. This relaxes the gluten and makes for a lighter, crispier coating.
- Fry in batches and don’t crowd the oil. Too many slices at once drops the temperature and gives you soggy eggplant instead of crispy.
- Make the sauce before you start frying. It comes together in just a couple minutes and can sit while you focus on the eggplant.
- Serve immediately after saucing. The crispy batter starts to soften within minutes.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the eggplant into thin 1½ inch by 3-inch slices.
Do not peel them.
For the batter mix the flour, water, and salt together in a small bowl, then strain through a fine sieve.
Let rest for about 20 minutes.
For the sauce, heat a wok or large frying-pan until hot and add the 1 tablespoon of oil.
Put in the scallions, ginger, and chili bean sauce and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Then add the stock, rice wine, vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, and soy sauce and continue to cook for 1 minute.
Thicken the sauce with the blended cornstarch and cook another minute.
Set aside.
Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or large wok until quite hot.
Dip the slices of eggplant into the batter, let the excess batter drip off, then deep-fry.
You may have to do this in several batches.
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towel.
Arrange the eggplant slices on a serving platter, pour the sauce over and serve.
Comments
try putting in toaster oven 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so. put honey on top. UM UM