Red Braised Eggplant

Hong Shao Qiezi (红烧茄子)

Fried wedges of Eggplant are braised in a Sichuan red sauce full of delicious flavors – spicy and garlicky balanced with salty and umami.

Garlicky, salty, spicy, and packed with natural umami – Red Braised Eggplant is bursting with flavor due to the incredible complexity of Sichuan Chili Bean Paste. The salty umami of the Sichuan Chili Bean Paste highlights the natural sweetness of the Eggplant. It’s naturally a little sour and when paired with Pickled Red Chilies (泡椒), adds a powerful punch of tangy heat.

The following style of Red Braised Eggplant (红烧茄子) is quite unique to Sichuan. The Red Braising sauce is made not from Red Colored Syrup (糖色) or ketchup, but from Sichuan Chili Bean Paste, Pickled Chilies, and a splash of Dark Soy Sauce. Other provinces often make Red Braised Eggplant with a sickeningly sweet ketchup-based sauce similar to a sweet and sour sauce. The following Sichuan version is fragrant and spicy, exploding with flavor from the tanginess of Pickled Chilies and the salty complexity of Sichuan Chili Bean Paste.

Nevertheless, feel free to experiment with a tablespoon or two of Ketchup in place of or in addition to the Sichuan Chili Bean Paste. This dish can also be made slightly sweeter with additional sugar. Homestyle versions (家常) of this dish often add Green Chilies, Red Peppers, and/ or Tomatoes, but these are not needed to add flavor to this dish. The delicious red sauce is more than enough.

Another version of this dish in Sichuan is called, Hand-Pulled Eggplant (手撕茄子) or Hand-Pulled Red Braised Eggplant (手撕红烧茄子). This version is actual even easier! Instead of peeling and frying the Eggplant, you simply smash it slightly and use your hand to tear it into strips about 2 to 4-inches long and about 1-inch thick. These strips are then braised in the exact same sauce presented below until soft. The flavor of the fried version and the hand-pulled version are quite similar, but vary mostly in texture. The fried version tends to have more sauce clinging to its surface, but the hand-pulled version has a fresher feel to it because it doesn’t require frying.

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Total Time: 25 min

Serving: 2 - 4 people

Ingredients

Aromatics
2 large cloves of Garlic
2-inch block of Ginger
5 Pickled Red Chilies

Garnish
1 Tbsp. finely sliced green stalks of Small Scallion (小葱)
1 tsp. finely minced Garlic

2 Tbsp. Corn Starch Slurry

1 - 2 Eggplants

Peanut Oil (Enough for Deep Frying)

1/4 cup Corn Starch

1 Tbsp. Sichuan Chili Bean Paste

Seasonings
1/2 tsp. Light Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp. Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp. White Sugar
1/4 tsp. White Pepper

Directions

1.) Peel, smash, and mince the Garlic and Ginger, placing them into a bowl. Dice the Pickled Red Chilies and add to the bowl of Garlic and Ginger, making this the bowl of Aromatics.

2.) Prepare the Garnishes in advance by finely slicing the Scallion and mincing the Garlic.

(Also prepare the Corn Starch Slurry at this point if not already made).

3.) Wash the Eggplant, peel it completely, and cut off both ends, creating a cylinder. Cut the Eggplant into 2-inch wedges by starting at the edge, cutting at a 45-degree angle, rotating cut-side up, cutting again, and repeating all the way down the length of the Eggplant. Place the wedges in a large bowl.

4.) Fill a seasoned wok at least 1/3 full, but no more than 1/2 full, with Peanut Oil and heat on high.

5.) While the Oil is heating, toss the Eggplant wedges in Corn Starch making sure to coat each piece thoroughly.

6.) Fry the Eggplant about 30 seconds to 1 minute until the exterior is ultra-crispy. Then strain out the Eggplant by pouring the Oil into a wire strainer set over a large pot.

7.) Quickly add 1/4 cup of Peanut Oil back to the wok and heat on high. When nearly smoking, pull the wok away from heat and add the Aromatics, mixing until fragrant.

8.) Add the Sichuan Chili Bean Paste and stir quickly to mix it into the Oil. Return the wok to heat, and 1 cup of Water.

9.) Add the Seasonings (Light Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce, White Sugar, and White Pepper) to the sauce along with the Corn Starch Slurry and mix thoroughly.

10.) With the sauce starting to thicken, return the Eggplant to the wok and braise gently for about 45 seconds until softened.

11.) Sprinkle with the finely sliced Scallion, mix one final time, and then plate the Red Braised Eggplant. Garnish with an extra sprinkling of finely sliced Scallion as well as some roughly chopped Garlic.

 

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