This week we use eggplant as the main ingredient. This will be an ornamental dish: Chinese lantern eggplant. After the knife treatment, the eggplant has a lantern-like frame, and when stuffed with the pork filling the pieces take on the shape of Chinese paper lanterns. It takes some patience to make Chinese lantern eggplant, however this is not difficult. We have a simple method that will give you good results.
There are many varieties of eggplants, elongated, round. Black, purple. In this recipe, I used short black eggplants. Try not to use too thin eggplants, because we need thick eggplants to make the dish fuller and more beautiful.
In the recipe, we divide it into several steps. First we need to prepare the ingredients and clean them. Then we make the meat filling. After making it, we let the meat filling marinate while we prepare with the eggplant. After completing this, we blend the meat filling and eggplant and cook them. You can make a sauce of your favorite. The sauce I made is sweet and sour. If you want a spicy sauce or a meat sauce, you can do it.
Finally, we make an exquisite dish arrangement with a few simple steps. You can use your imagination and creativity to make exquisite dish decorations. In the photo, the tree is made with a few thin wedge cuts from a cucumber. The leaves are simple slices, with thin, parallel cuts made in one edge. You can substitute a leafy celery stem if you prefer. For the lanterns, use small pieces and shreds cut from a mild red pepper. With a little patience you can make a truly impressive dish for your friends.
Chinese Lantern Eggplant
Equipment
- 1 wok
- 1 pair, chopsticks
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 wire kitchen strainer or slotted spoon
- 1 heat safe container for hot oil
Ingredients
- 1 black eggplant
- oil for deep frying
Pork filling
- 220 g pork ground
- 10 g ginger minced
- 2 scallions chopped fine
- 3 ml salt
- 5 ml Shaoxing wine substitute dry sherry
- 10 ml thick starch water 1:1 cornstarch to water
Basic sweet and sour sauce
- 20 ml tomato ketchup
- 10 ml sugar
- 3 ml white vinegar
- 15 ml thick starch water 1:1 cornstarch to water
- 20 ml cooking oil divided, 1 tbsp, 1 tsp
- 30-50 ml water
Garnish (optional)
- some cucumber or leafy celery
- some mild red pepper cut into small pieces and some shreds
Instructions
Preparation:
- Gather the ingredients. Wash them clean.
Make the meat filling:
- Chop the scallion and ginger. Use a meat grinder to mince the pork, add 3ml (½ tsp rounded) of salt, and stir evenly in one direction (clockwise or counterclockwise). Pick up the meat ball and beat it repeatedly to make the pork sticky, add 5ml of cooking wine and 10ml (2 tsp) of starch water, and stir evenly. Add the scallion and ginger. Stir evenly.220 g pork, 10 g ginger, 2 scallions, 3 ml salt, 5 ml Shaoxing wine, 10 ml thick starch water
Prepare the eggplant:
- Remove the stem. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Place chopsticks on both sides of the eggplant so we don’t cut through it.1 black eggplant
- We need to cut 7 times and cut it off at the 8th time. The thickness of each eggplant slice is about 5mm (3/16 in).
- Insert the meat filling into each crevices of the eggplant. Try to fill the eggplants up without overflowing.
Cooking:
- Fill the wok about halfway with deep-frying oil. Heat to 150°C (302°F) and then reduce to medium heat. Carefully add the eggplants, meat side down. Fry the eggplants for about 2-3 minutes after the meat is set. This depends on how much meat you put in and the thickness of the eggplants. When the eggplants and meat are cooked, remove them from the oil. Pour the oil into a heat-proof container.oil for deep frying
Make the sauce:
- Add 15ml (1 tbsp) oil and 20ml (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) tomato ketchup to the wok or a saucepan, stir until blended, then add 10ml (2 tsp) sugar, 3ml (1/2 tsp) white vinegar and 30-50ml (2 tbsp to 3 tbsp + 1 tsp) water. Stir well. Bring the sauce to a boil, then slowly add the remaining starch water a little at a time, stirring well until you reach the desired thickness. Then remove from the heat and add 5ml (1 tsp) oil and stir well to combine.20 ml tomato ketchup, 10 ml sugar, 3 ml white vinegar, 15 ml thick starch water, 20 ml cooking oil, 30-50 ml water
- Place the lantern eggplants on a plate and decorate them. I used cucumbers to make the “tree” and red peppers to make the head and tail of the lantern. Cover the surface of the lantern eggplants with the sauce.some cucumber, some mild red pepper
- Serve.
Notes
- When making the meat filling, we must make it sticky so that it will not separate from the eggplant when frying. Salt, stir in the same direction, and beat repeatedly to make the meat filling sticky. Then add thick starch water.
- The chopsticks alongside the eggplant halves prevent you from cutting the eggplant all the way through when making the 7 partial cuts. If you have good knife skills, you can dispense with the chopsticks.
Nutrition
Other Chinese eggplant recipes
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Just wondering…. Is the calorie count per serving or for all four eggplants combined?
Calorie count is per serving.