Cantonese•comfort

Salted Fish Eggplant Stew (咸鱼茄子煲)

If you like Cantonese salted fish, this recipe brings out the flavor extremely well. It's "xia fan" and goes really well with white rice.

Ingredients

Quantities are shown as originally provided.

1
Wash the eggplants thoroughly (best with a veggie or fruit wash). Cut each eggplants into long wedges. Peel and slice the garlic cloves. If using fresh chili peppers, cut the chili peppers into small pieces.
2
Rinse the salted fish once and remove the head and bones. Cut it into small pieces.
3
Prepare the sauce by mixing 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, and 1 tablespoon of water.
4
Heat a large skillet or non-stick pan under medium heat. When the skillet becomes warm, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Then add the eggplant wedges, making sure there are no overlapping pieces. (You may need to do two batches or you can do it using two pans at the same time.) Lightly pan fry all sides of the eggplant pieces until they become soft, about 5 -10 minutes total. Transfer the eggplant pieces to a plate.
5
Heat a wok or stoneware pot under medium-high heat. When the wok or stoneware pot becomes hot, add the rest of the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Then add the garlic, chili peppers/chili sauce (if using), and salted fish pieces to fry. When the garlic and salted fish turn golden brown, lower the heat to medium-low. Add the partially cooked eggplants from step 4 and the sauce prepared in step 3, gently mixing everything together. Cover with the lid and simmer for 5 more minutes. Turn off the heat after 5 minutes. Sprinkle some green onions on top and enjoy!