Fried Chinese eggplant coated in honey garlic sauce, topped with sesame seeds and served with rice. Fragrant and delicious!
When I went to market this week, I saw this Chinese eggplant, which was staring at me and asking me to take it home. I am truly an eggplant lover and I found these delicious. So, when I reached home I wanted to do something quick and easy from it.
I decided to slice the eggplant into sticks and shallow fry. The benefits of shallow fry:
1. Easy to make.
2. Ensures that the eggplant doesn’t absorb too much oil.
3. Cooks it quickly
4. Crispy exterior
5. Creamy interior!
You can even grill eggplant but I find this beautifully browned when fried. When I tossed them in sauce and I eagerly took a first taste. It has sweet, spicy, garlicky and smoky flavor in the same bundle. It is not mushy at all! It is quick to make and tasty to eat.
- Japanese Eggplant – 2
- Capsicum/Bell pepper - 2 tbsp, chopped
- Oil – to fry
- Garlic – 5 cloves, minced
- Ginger – ½ inch, minced
- Red chili – 3
- Sesame oil – 1 tsp
- Honey – 2 tbsp
- Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
- Ground pepper – 1 tsp
- Sesame seeds – for garnish
- Green onions/coriander - garnish
- Fluffy white rice – to serve
- Cut the eggplant into ¾ inch sticks.
- Heat oil in a deep-sided skillet to 360F. Fry the eggplant in small batches. Flip it if needed. Fry it for about two minutes until lightly golden brown. Don’t soak it in oil for long time. Remove from oil and drain on a cooling rack, or a tissue.
- In a small cup, mix honey, ground pepper and soy sauce and keep it aside.
- In a pan, heat up 1 tsp of sesame oil and cook the garlic and chilli on medium heat until slightly golden, but make sure it is not browned. Add the honey soy sauce mixture.
- Turn the heat to medium high so that the mixture bubbles, thickens and turns into sticky texture.
- Toss the fried eggplant with the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds, scallions and coriander.
- Serve immediately with rice or grain of your choice.
