Eggplant with minced pork is a delicious, simple, home-cooked dish that belongs to Sichuan cuisine. It’s easy to make, bright red in color, and the eggplant is soft and delicious, perfect for serving with rice. This dish is prepared using the red-braised (Hóngshāo) technique.
Cooking in a Chinese home kitchen, the best comment about a dish is “this dish can make me eat a lot of rice!” I made it one of my New Year’s Eve recipes today because at any time, we all love the taste of home cooking. New Year’s Eve dinner is a reunion dinner. It doesn’t need fancy recipes and advanced ingredients, just simple ingredients and careful cooking. Everyone gets together and eats a delicious dinner. Eggplant with minced pork is the taste of home.
Knife technique: roll-cut
We introduce a knife technique called “roll-cutting” or a rolling cut, for the eggplant. Notice that the eggplant is cut in wedged-shapes. This helps the slices to cook more quickly and evenly. Roll-cutting is done by holding the knife at an angle, making a diagonal slice across the eggplant, and then rolling the eggplant ¼ of a turn before making the next cut.
Eggplant with Minced Pork
Equipment
- 1 wok
Ingredients
Main ingredient:
- 1 eggplant
Accessory Ingredients:
- 100 g pork, lean (or ground pork)
- 2 dried er jing tiao chili peppers
- 1 scallion
- 4 slices fresh ginger
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or lard
Seasonings:
- salt (to taste)
- ½ tsp sugar, white (granulated)
- ½ tsp MSG (optional)
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1.5 – 2 tsp Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste
- 1 – 2 tsp starch water (mix 1:1 corn starch and water)
Instructions
Preparation
- Remove the roots and stem of the eggplant and wash it well. Peel and wash the onion, ginger and garlic, and wash the meat.
- Cut the green onion into pieces. Then slice the ginger and garlic and cut the red pepper into strips. Mince the pork (if not using ground pork) and chop the eggplant into wedge-shaped chunks.
- NOTE: This video shows the roll-cutting technique used to make the wedge-shaped cuts.
Cooking
- Add enough oil to cover the eggplant in your wok and heat it to 150° – 180° C (300° – 355° F). Add the eggplant and deep-fry it in the oil until turns yellow, then remove the eggplant chunks and drain the oil. Pour the used oil into a heat proof container for storage.1 eggplant, peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or lard
- Add 15ml (1 tbsp) of oil to the wok again, sauté the meat over low heat until it changes color.100 g pork, lean
- Then add the ginger, garlic, doubanjiang bean paste, and the seasonings. Then add enough water to mix the ingredients. Add salt last–test the flavor before adding salt.4 slices fresh ginger, 3 cloves fresh garlic, peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or lard, 1/2 tsp sugar, white (granulated), 1/2 tsp MSG, 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1.5 – 2 tsp Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste, salt (to taste)
- Add the eggplant, cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, then add the green onion and red pepper. Add some starch water to thicken the broth, stir-fry evenly and add a little oil to brighten.1 eggplant, 2 dried er jing tiao chili peppers, 1 scallion, 1 – 2 tsp starch water
- Finish.
Video
Notes
- When placing the eggplant in the hot oil, dry the surface of the eggplant and be careful with the hot oil.
- Deep frying the eggplant is to keep the color of the eggplant bright.
Nutrition
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