Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Spicy and Sweet Eggplant Stir Fry


This is so easy and simple, it's become a go to at our house. To make it a meal, I first fry up a couple of cubed chicken breasts in the pan, remove and set them to the side while I cook the veggies, then add the chicken back in to warm through just before serving. You could do the same with tofu. Just serve it over some rice and you're done.

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Spicy and Sweet Eggplant Stir Fry
* Adapted from Epicurious
* You can add or subsitute mushrooms for the eggplant if you like.

Ingredients:
2 Japanese eggplants, tops trimmed, halved lengthwise, then cut diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 smashed and peeled garlic cloves
pinch kosher salt
2 tablespoons mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger (use a Microplane)
1/8 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice powder, or coriander
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped chives, plus extra

Directions:
Add the oil to a wok or large rimmed nonstick pan and let heat through over medium heat.

Add the eggplant, bell pepper, and garlic. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and cook, stirring often, for about 15-18 minutes or until the eggplant has begun to lose its shape and cook through and the bell pepper has started to brown and caramelize a little at the edges.

Meanwhile, stir together the mirin, soy sauce, ginger, and five spice powder. When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, add the mirin mixture and green onions to the pan and stir for about a minute, until the sauce becomes a glaze and eggplant is browned and tender.

Serve over rice with additional fresh chives.

7 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Fantastic! I love to cook my eggplants with soy sauce and five spice powder.

Cheers,

Rosa

Unknown said...

I like the texture here, I am not a huge eggplant fan but this seems like it might be quite tasty.

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

truly one of my favorites love this!

Unknown said...

A great "go to" dish for sure! I don't cook with five spice nearly enough - not sure why either as I have some. I guess I just need to become more familiar with it??? Looks like the perfect dish to try!

Unknown said...

Girl...it's too bad you and I don't live closer together, I have a feeling we are kitchen soul mates!! lol This looks and sounds wonderful! I don't know if I could get Chris to eat eggplant, but I could use chicken in place of it. YUM!

Mary Bergfeld said...

This really sounds like a delicious stir-fry. It is really hard to beat the ingredients you've used here. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

lisa is cooking said...

I have no idea what took me so long, but I only recently bought mirin for the first time. So, of course, I want to use it in everything now. This sounds like a great way to do that!