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Chinese Lantern Eggplant

Chinese Lantern Eggplant

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This pork-stuffed eggplant recipe is an ornamental dish. After the knife treatment, the eggplant has a lantern-like frame. When the cuts are filled with minced pork, the shape of each piece looks like a Chinese paper lantern.
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. NOTE: Western eggplants are too big, so if shopping in a Western grocery try to find baby eggplants of relatively uniform thickness along the length.
After gathering and cleaning the ingredients, make the meat filling. Let the meat filling marinate for a while and prepare the eggplant. This step is not difficult, but does take a bit of patience. You need to make 7 partial cuts in each section, then the 8th cut goes all the way through to separate the section. To do this, put a chopstick on each side of the eggplant to keep your knife blade from going all the way through.
You can top the cooked eggplant lanterns with a sauce of your choice. For this recipe, I included a simple sweet and sour sauce, but If you want a spicy sauce or a meat sauce, you can do so.
Finally, we make an exquisite dish arrangement. You can use your imagination and creativity to make exquisite dish decorations. In the photos, you can see that I used small squares cut from a mild red pepper to create the base of each lantern and thin shreds cut from the pepper for the tails. For added decoration, I made some slant cuts in a cucumber to make a tree. You can use celery for the same purpose.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese Home Cooking
Servings 4
Calories 191 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 wok
  • 1 sharp kitchen knife
  • 1 pair, chopsticks
  • 1 mixing bowl
  • 1 wire kitchen strainer or slotted spoon
  • 1 heat safe container for hot oil

Ingredients
 
 

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.
    Pork, ginger, scallion, and Chinese or baby eggplant for Lantern Eggplant

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
    Grind the pork, mix with salt, and beat the ball until it is sticky. Add wine and thick starch water and mix into the meat, then add the chopped scallion and ginger and mix thoroughly.

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
    Cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise. Place cut-side down between two square chopsticks.
  • 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).
    Make seven partial slices across the eggplant, about 5 mm (3/16 in) wide. On the 8th slice, cut completely through the eggplant
  • Insert the meat filling into each crevices of the eggplant. Try to fill the eggplants up without overflowing.
    Carefully pack the cuts in the eggplant with the chopped meat filling

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
    Deep fry the meat filled eggplant pieces, meat side down, in 302 degree oil.

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
    Make a simple sweet and sour sauce
  • 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
    Chinese Lantern Eggplant, ready for sauce
  • Serve.
    Chinese Lantern Eggplant

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

Calories: 191kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 10gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 438mgPotassium: 329mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 103IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg
Keyword cucumber, eggplant, frying, deep-fry, ginger, 番茄酱, minced pork, red peppers, salt, scallions, shaoxing wine, starch water, sugar, white, vinegar
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