Szechuan Eggplant

If you’ve previously made some Szechuan Sauce. It’s worth using instead of just soy, vinegar and sugar. It gives the dish a bit of a lift!

Step 1:

• 1 large eggplant or 2 Asian eggplants cut into bite-sized pieces

Place them in a large mixing bowl and cover with

• 2l water

• 2 tbsp salt

Put a plate on top to keep the eggplant below the water & leave for at least 30 minutes.

Step 2:

• 2 tsp vegetable oil or sesame oil

• 60g spring onion chopped, and save some of the green ends for garnish

• 20g garlic finely chopped

• 20g ginger peeled and finely chopped

Fry all the ingredients together until mince is cooked, then add…

• 120g mince (I used beyond beef or homemade plant mince)

• 5g chilli flakes (optional)

Take the eggplant out of the water and squeeze any excess moisture. Then add the drained eggplant to the pan and fry until browned.

For the next step, you’ll need either:

• 80ml homemade (thin) Szechuan sauce

  or:

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp vinegar (preferably dark vinegar, but any is fine)

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp Chinese five spice

Add either one of these to your pan or wok and simmer the eggplant for around 20-30 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick and the eggplant hasn’t softened, keep adding water. The amount of water really depends on each eggplant.

Next, add:

• 1 tsp corn starch (dissolved in 25ml of cool water) or 1 tsp flour (no need to dissolve in water first)

Let the sauce thicken into a gravy-like consistency.

To serve:

• Spring onions (white parts)

• Sesame seeds (optional)

• White rice