Adapted from The Yangshuo Cooking School
We're awash in eggplant right now.
Our CSA is having a bumper crop of eggplant. In a given week, we can easily receive three to seven pounds of eggplant. In a household of two, that's a lot of aubergine. (If you're unfamiliar with CSAs, we have a post that explains what a CSA is and how it select one.)
But we were eager for eggplant season to start this year. And we were ready. We have old standby dishes like this Eggplant Parmesan recipe (we've already made it once this month). And earlier this year we found another eggplant recipe that we loved, with these Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango (and it's on the docket to make again).
But we were especially excited for eggplant season because we've been waiting to use this recipe we learned back in November when we were traveling in China. During a visit to Yangshuo, near Guilin in Guangxi Province in the Southern part of the country, we spent most of one day in a cooking class. We made five great dishes, but this eggplant was a standout.
The good news about this recipe is that it even though it's a traditional Yangshuo dish, you can find all the ingredients in just about any supermarket. Three items should be available in the International aisle: black bean sauce, chili paste and oyster sauce (if you want to make this dish vegetarian, you can omit the oyster sauce and instead use hoison). The other ingredients -- eggplant, garlic, ginger, green onions, and oil -- are especially easy to find.
Most of the work here is in the chopping and prepping. When we did this at the cooking school, we got to use these awesome cleavers to prep the vegetables.
In Yangshuo and at home, we cooked this eggplant in a wok. If you have a wok, great -- we suggest you use it. But if you don't, you can achieve a very similar result with a wide, heavy skillet.
We think you'll love this eggplant. It's tender and flavorful, with a nice amount of heat. The oyster sauce gives it a hint of sweetness, the ginger and green onions a flash of freshness. We've eaten it a few times in the last few weeks as a vegetarian dinner entree and we plan to again this week. It may just be our favorite eggplant recipe.
And as a bonus, here's a shot of us right after the class. Sadly, we didn't get to keep the cleavers.
In case you missed them the first time around:
Chinese-Style Eggplant (Eggplant in the Yangshuo Style)
Adapted from The Yangshuo Cooking School
INGREDIENTS
1 pound eggplant, sliced into 1-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
4 tablespoons ginger, crushed and minced
4 green onions, sliced
4 tablespoons peanut oil
2 teaspoons black bean sauce
2 teaspoons chili paste (use less if you're averse to spice, more if you like to turn up the heat)
2 teaspoons oyster sauce (sub in hoison sauce or a vegetarian stir-fry sauce if you want to make this dish vegetarian)
1/2 cup water
DIRECTIONS
Heat wok or a wide skillet over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the oil and turn the heat to medium. Add the eggplant to the pan, frying over medium until browned and soft. If the oil smokes, turn down the heat to low.
Reduce the heat, and move the eggplant out of the center of the pan or wok. Add the garlic, ginger, chili paste and black bean sauce to the center of the pan, and continue cooking for two to three minutes more, until the ingredients are very fragrant.
Return the eggplant to the middle of the pan, add the water and oyster sauce, and turn the heat to high. Cook the mixture until the water is mostly evaporated. Add green onions, mix together and serve.
