Cantonese Eggplant Casserole 茄子煲
4 serving
A Cantonese dish of fried eggplant, pork, and salted fish.
Ingredients
- 4 oz. Pork, thinly slicecd
- 6 1/2 tsp. Corn Starch, divided
- 1 1/2 lb. Chinese Eggplant, trimmed, cut into 2"x1/2" chunks
- 1 1/2 c. Canola Oil, for frying
- 2 in. Ginger, minced
- 4 clove Garlic, smashed, finely chopped
- 2 Green Onions, green and white parts separated, chopped
- 1 oz. Chinese Salted Fish, deboned, minced
- 1 tsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Black Vinegar
- 1 tsp. Chinese Dark Soy Sauce
- 4 tsp. Chinese Light Soy Sauce
- 3/4 c. Water, as needed
Instructions
Instructions
Toss the pork with 1/2 tsp. cornstarch and set aside.
Toss the eggplant with the remaining cornstarch to evenly coat.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Fry eggplant in batches, about 2 minutes per batch. Remove from oil and let drain.
4.
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and white parts of the scallion and stir-fry briefly.
5.
Add the pork and salted fish and stir-fry until pork is just cooked through.
Add the eggplant, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and green parts of the scallion to wok along with 1/2 c. of the water. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring, until liquid has thickened to a sauce. Add additional water as needed if it reduces too quickly. Once sauce is thickened and eggplants is tender, remove from heat and serve.
Comments
Made this yesterday with a few substitutions omissions: used thinly sliced country style pork ribs; used 2 T. ginger garlic paste instead of ginger and garlic; omitted green onions, using 1/2 of a red onion in place of the white portion of the green onions; used sardine instead of salted fish. Despite all the alterations, this is delicious. I fried the eggplant until it was slightly golden and puffed, which resulted in the final dish being very creamy, but not noticeably oily. I imagine that when prepared accurately, this is even better. We will have no issue finishing up the leftovers.
Made with ground pork, ~1tsp. fish sauce instead of Chinese salted fish. Very good, though I way overcooked the eggplants resulting in them turning to mush. This probably happened because I was impatient and tried to fry them all in one batch, which resulted in them not crisping, which resulted in me continuing to cook, and cook...