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Slow-roasted Asian eggplant with garlicky and spicy fermented bean paste sauce. This is not the most authentic 魚香茄子 (yu xiang eggplant) recipe, but it’s mostly hands-off, without the need of standing over a hot wok and frying the eggplants in batches.
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Cut 1-1 ½ lbs. of long skinny Asian eggplants into roughly 3-inch batons. Place in a shallow baking dish. Pour about ½ cup of good olive oil over eggplants, some oil will be quickly absorbed, which is normal with eggplants. Throw in some garlic cloves and/or whites of scallions (cut into batons as well) if you’d like. Roast at 350º for about an hour or so until eggplants have softened and the scallions are a bit caramelized. Remove from baking dish and drain if you’d like. Save oil for another use. Slow-roasting (or overcooking veg) method courtesy of @bonappetitmag to get the eggplants super soft and silky.
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While eggplants are roasting, prep and mise out your sauce ingredients. Mince a small knob of ginger, 2-3 cloves of garlic and the whites of 1 scallion. In a small bowl, dissolve ½ tsp sugar in 1 cup chicken stock. In another small bowl, mix 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp cold water. Set everything aside.
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About 10 minutes before the eggplants are done roasting, heat some grapeseed oil in a large cast iron pan on medium. Spoon in about 2 dollops of spicy fermented bean paste (aka 豆瓣酱, broad bean paste or bean sauce). Stir occasionally and when color has darkened, about 5 minutes, add in chili pepper flakes, minced garlic, ginger, white parts of scallion. Keep stirring until everything is fragrant. Add in the drained slow-roasted eggplants, combine well with bean sauce mixture. Pour chicken stock over eggplants and continue to gently sauté. Then pour in the cornstarch-water mixture, let everything simmer and continue stirring. As the cornstarch mixture cooks, it’ll thicken the sauce. Add a bit of soy sauce for extra flavor if needed.
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Before serving, stir in Chinkiang vinegar, sesame oil, scallion greens, sliced chili, white pepper. Eat over hot rice. #f52comfortingveggies
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