I love love love eggplants - all sorts of eggplants (from Korean ban chans to eggplant parm to this Chinese prepared dish!) My roommate in Jersey used to make it for me when I was sad/happy/excited/normal/just whenever because he knew how much I liked it. Well... since I don't live in Jersey anymore and don't want to dish out 9.95+ for a greasy plate of eggplants at a Chinese restaurant, I figured out how to whip up this delicious (healthier) dish at home!
Purchase some good looking eggplants from the Chinese store - they're super cheap. Usually less than 2 bucks for the 3 you see above left picture. Slice it down the middle and then cut in diagonals like you see in the above right picture. Rinse and dry for a couple of minutes.
On high heat, pour in some olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan - stir the eggplants to ensure that they don't stick to the bottom. Keep adding oil occasionally (2 more times) to ensure that they are cooking and once again, not sticking to the bottom of the pan - this process should take about 10 minutes. When it starts looking darker and more cooked like the above right picture - look to the next step.
Put in the minced pork that you've also purchased at the Chinese store into the pan with the cooked eggplants - this does not need to be marinated unless you'd want to put in some salt and pepper on top to just make it saltier - the sauce packet (guess where it's bought...) will flavor both the eggplants and meat appropriately.
As you cook the minced pork with the eggplants, stir in the sauce packet and it should look similar to the above picture! Cook for about 4-5 minutes while stirring.
Depending on the softness of the eggplants you like, you can either cook it longer or shorter. I prefer mine medium so I took it out a few seconds after all the pork was done cooking.
Beautiful! I also added some chili flakes for more of a flavor kick but you def. do not need to.
Volia! Enjoy this traditional Chinese eggplant dish like I have for years :)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Overall: 30 minutes
