Chinese Eggplant with Ginger & Scallions

It was a Chinese kitchen last evening, and I went straight to my posting of A Chinese Dinner for inspiration.  I made the Drunken Shrimp and the Szechwan Green Beans in that recipe file, but instead of Lo Mein as the third menu item, I wanted to do something with eggplant.  This is the recipe that I concocted with a little help from the Internet.

The recipe that I hijacked (sorry, I cannot remember from whom), which I amended for my taste and ingredient list, called for Japanese eggplant, otherwise known as a Kurume.  These are the longer, slender and smaller eggplant you might occasionally see in the grocery store and they're almost always available at any Asian market.  Small and flavorful, you do not need to peel them because the skins are thin and tasty.

However, I wasn't in the mood for the hike to a store that would carry them, and my neighborhood grocer only carries the traditional, large variety of eggplant that are generally more commercially available, at least in these parts.  The eggplant we most often see are generally from Florida and are called a purple eggplant or sometimes referred to as a Black Beauty.  Their skin is a deep, rich, dark purple color, but they must be peeled as their skin is dense and bitter. This fruit (yes, eggplant is a fruit, just like tomatoes) worked very well indeed, and in fact may have even been better than had I used the Asian variety.  One day, I'll compare them.  For now, this recipe is written to use the large, traditional purple eggplant.

The recipe also calls for grilling the eggplant before its final preparation in a wok.  This is most easily done in a stove-top grilling pan, but you could certainly grill them outdoors on a gas grill.

Ingredients

2 medium to large purple eggplants, peeled

4 tbsp sesame oil

4 tbsp canola oil

4 tbsp peanut oil

1 tbsp hot pepper oil (like, Mongolian Fire Oil)

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

4 tbsp rice wine

4 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 packet Splenda

1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

3 tbsp garlic, finely minced

6 green onion, finely chopped - whites and green stems separated

4 tbsp fresh grated ginger

non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)

The Recipe

Slice the eggplant by its length into quarters; then slice the quarters into one-inch thick pieces.  What you'll wind up with is a quarter-round piece of eggplant, an inch thick, and about the size of a silver dollar, more or less.

In a large mixing bowl, drizzle the sesame and canola oil over the eggplant pieces, and toss well to coat.  Actually, the oil will not really coat the eggplant so much as it will be absorbed.  The eggplant pieces will soak up the oil quickly, so work fast.  Eggplant also tends to quickly oxidize and turn brown after cutting it, so all the more reason to get the oil it as fast as you can.

Heat the grilling skillet over high heat and spray liberally with non-stick cooking spray.  Grill the eggplant pieces until they turn brown, and even allow a little char to develop.  Depending on how hot your stove gets, this will take 3-4 minutes.  Flip the eggplant pieces over and repeat on the other side.  Remove the eggplant to a platter to await the next step.

Combine the chopped white parts of the green onion, or scallion, with the freshly grated ginger, red pepper flakes and the minced garlic in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar and Splenda in a bowl and set aside.

Over high heat, bring the wok to the smoking point.  Pour in the peanut and pepper oil in the wok and immediately add the onion, ginger, pepper and garlic.  Chow the ingredients quickly and immediately upon introduction to the oil or the garlic will burn.  If this happens, you have to start over.  There is no recovery from burnt garlic.

After a short time, perhaps twenty seconds, add the eggplant pieces to the wok.  Stir fry the pieces until they become soft, about three minutes.  Move all the ingredient to the sides of the wok and add the soy sauce, rice wine, Splenda and vinegar.  Allow it to quickly come to a boil, and then fold in the eggplant pieces.  Stir well to combine and cook another two minutes.  Add the chopped green stems of the scallions at the last minute before you're ready to take everything out of the wok into a serving bowl or platter.