Spicy Aubergine Pot 茄子煲

I like aubergine or eggplants, especially in curries and all manner of spiciness. This is a deviation from the fried sambal one and is also one you will find in most Chinese restaurants. This is from one of my more frequently-used cookbook, Fuchsia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, which I would highly recommend both her books if you like Sichuan and Chinese cooking. I normally cook half of this recipe as Johan doesn't like eggplants that much.

Ingredients

650g aubergine

salt

2 shitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes

75g minced pork

2 tablespoons chili bean paste

2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1 fresh chili, finely sliced

150ml stock

1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce

2 spring onions, green parts only finely sliced

1 teaspoon sesame oil

cooking oil for deep frying

Steps

1. Peel the aubergines (if desired, I normally don't) and cut them into long chunks. Sprinkle them with salt and leave it to drain for about 30 minutes.
2. Drain the shitake mushrooms and squeeze dry before chopping them finely and set aside.
3. Rinse and pat dry the aubergine. Heat the oil for deep frying over high flame and add the aubergine to fry until they are tender and faintly golden brown. Drain off excess oil and set aside on some paper. Depending on the scale of the recipe you are doing, this may be performed in batches.
   
   
   
   
4. Leave about 3 tablespoons of oil in the wok and return it over high flame. Add the pork and stir fry until it separates and loses its water content. Add the chili bean paste and stir fry until the oil is red.
5. Add the ginger, garlic, mushroom and chili and stir fry until they are fragrant. Add in the stock and dark soy sauce, mix well before adding the aubergines and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Season with salt if necessary.
   
   
   
6. Finally turn up the heat to reduce the sauce if necessary, add in the spring onion and stir fry until they just turn bright green. Remove the wok from the heat and stir in the sesame oil and serve hot.