Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce (Yu Xiang eggplant) is a garlicky and savory stir fry dish. Chinese eggplants are half-braised and half-stirfried until buttery delicious. This recipe is tailed for home cooks to make easily!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese, Taiwanese
Keyword Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce, Yu Xiang eggplant
Slice off the tip ends of the eggplants. Rinse and pat dry. Slice the eggplant crosswise into 2.5-inch sections then quarter each section lengthwise.
[optional] In a large bowl, add the eggplants and fill the bowl with tap water. Place a plate up-side-down on top of the eggplants to help them submerge under the water. Soak for 10 minutes. After soaking, pat them dry and toss them with starch.
In the meantime, prepare the garlic, set aside red chilies, and combine the garlic sauce in a measuring cup.
In a well-heated large non-stick saute pan, add 1 tbsp oil, fry the meat over medium-high heat until it’s cooked through and break up to fine pieces, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and mirin, and add-in the garlic and dry chilies. Fry the ground meat for 1 more minute.
Push the meat to the side of the pan, add the eggplants and the remaining 2 tbsp oil, and season with another pinch of salt. Fry the eggplants over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.
Pour in the garlic sauce. Gently push the eggplants down to touch the liquid. Cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the eggplants are soft and cooked through, stirring every 2 minutes. Turn off the meat.
To serve: Transfer them to a large serving bowl and garnish with scallions. Serve warm with a bowl of steamed rice.
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Notes
If you’re in a hurry, you can skip soaking the eggplants and coating them with starch. You can thicken the sauce by making a slurry with 2 tsp starch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water. Pour it into the pan at the very end before turning off the heat and stir the pot for 10-15 seconds to thicken the sauce.
Soaking the eggplants will reduce the need to use a larger amount of oil because eggplants like to drink up a lot of oil.
The mirin and Chinese dry red chili peppers are optional. The chilies are used for colors as they are used whole and not cut up. They also add a hint of spicy flavor. You can substitute with ⅛ tsp of Korean red pepper flakes - gochugaru - for a similar flavor.
You also use ground chicken, turkey, or beef. The flavor will be slightly different but still delicious.
If you use Italian or graffiti eggplants or globe eggplants, the flavor will taste a little different. These eggplants are less sweet and have more seeds. You should salt the eggplants to draw out the bitterness and remove the skin and seeds before cooking.