Eggplant And Minced Pork
This eggplant and minced pork recipe uses pantry-friendly ingredients and can be served as a side dish or entree. The minced pork is hot and spicy, with Thai chili pepper and sweet soybean paste. The basic sauce seasonings you need are light soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 tsp salt (for soaking the eggplants)
- 1 cup minced pork
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp Thai chili pepper
- 1 tbsp sweet soybean paste
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- Chopped green onions (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- 1
Cut the eggplant into 3 pieces, then slice each piece lengthwise from the middle into halves. After that, slice each half lengthwise again into thick strips. This way, you'll end up with three thick strips from each half. Make sure to remove the green stem.
- 2
Chop the rest of the ingredients. Chop the garlic, ginger, and Thai chili pepper.
- 3
Sprinkle the chopped eggplant with a dash of salt and let it sit for 5-10minutes to soften and release water.
- 4
Rinse the chopped eggplant several times with water to remove excess salt. Squeeze out as much water as possible. Set aside. Do not forget to rinse the salted eggplant, otherwise, it will be too salty.
- 5
Heat oil in the pan and stir-fry the minced pork on high heat until it turns slightly brown.It is also perfectly fine to stir-fry the minced pork without oil and let the fat melt instead from the minced pork.
- 6
Add minced ginger, minced garlic, and chopped Thai chili pepper. Stir in sweet soybean paste for extra spiciness. Mix well until evenly distributed throughout the minced pork.
- 7
Add the chopped eggplants to the pan.
- 8
Season with light soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Adjust to taste and continue stir-frying until cooked. Be patient as the eggplant takes time to cook, typically around 4-7 minutes. It is best to maintain high heat to let the eggplant stay crunchy and prevent it from going soggy from absorbing too much oil.
- 9
Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with chopped green onions.