Braised Soy Garlic Eggplant
I made this a lot last year when I was growing eggplants and it is still one of my favorite ways to use up a vegetable I otherwise don’t pay much attention to. Cold or hot, over some white rice is just an absolute divine side dish. It’s not difficult to make but the order you do things in does matter, so I recommend preparing the ingredients before things go into the pan.
I really like Chinese garlic egg plant but in the past my eggplants were never soft like I know them to be in restaurants–then one day I overheard a chef who used to work at a takeout place say they fry the eggplants in oil first, and that made all the difference.
Eggplant does soak up a lot of oil, so you’ll want to watch those calories but I feel if it’s not delicious there’s no point.
Ingredients
- 2 cups eggplant, cubed
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons cooking sake (or cooking wine)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 dried red chili pepper, chopped
- Black pepper to taste
- Fry eggplant in oil over medium heat until softened.
- Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add soy sauce, sugar, sake, black pepper, dried chili and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Serve with white rice.