The Chinese eggplant is cooked until crispy and smoky using minimal oil, and then cooked in a rich savory garlic sauce. This vegan dish is very satisfying, both as a side or a main dish served over rice or noodles. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Eggplant is a very tricky vegetable to cook. If you don’t season it properly, it will taste bitter or extremely plain. If using too little oil, the texture will be mushy and create an awful mouthfeel. And if you use too much oil, the eggplant might turn soggy and greasy.
If you don’t like cooking eggplant at home, you probably have some of the worries below:
- Eggplant is quite time consuming to cook, compared to the average vegetable.
- You’ll end up eating more calories without getting an impressive flavor.
That is why I’m posting this Chinese eggplant recipe today, to help you to create a wonderful eggplant dish nearly effortlessly.
This recipe offers the simplest way to cook a great eggplant dish without using too much oil, and avoids soggy and plain eggplant with the minimum needed cooking time.
How to make the perfect eggplant dish
The secret to getting perfect Chinese style eggplant involves two things.
- You have to prepare the eggplant properly before cooking in order to get the right texture.
- You need to make a sauce that is flavorful enough.
To prepare the eggplant, there are two ways to do it.
Before introducing the first method, I want to thank my friend Steve S. He taught me this method quite a long time ago, to prevent the eggplant from absorbing oil.
The method is:
- Spread the sliced eggplant on a towel.
- Sprinkle Kosher salt on both surfaces of the sliced eggplant.
- Allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Rinse the salt off the eggplant and pat each surface dry.
The second way is:
- Place the eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, mix well.
- Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes.
- Drain and pat dry
I personally prefer the second method. Because when soaking the eggplant in the water, it also preserve the white color of the eggplant and prevent it from oxidizing and turning brown.
Once you’ve finished either of the methods above, there is one more step – after the eggplant is completely dry, sprinkle cornstarch over it and mix by hand, until the eggplant is evenly coated with a thin layer of cornstarch.
Using this method, you can create crispy and nicely charred eggplant on the stovetop in 10 minutes. No need to turn on the oven to get the smoky flavor!
Garlic sauce ingredients
Creating a good sauce is really easy and you only need these ingredients:
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce: dark soy sauce add a beautiful dark brown color to the dish and a hint of caramel taste.
- Sugar: the sugar balance out the salty ingredients for a more roundup sauce.
- Cornstarch: the cornstarch acts as a thicker to thicken the sauce.
Just mix everything together and pour it over the eggplant at the end of cooking.
Mix en place
It’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready before starting the stir fry. Your table should have:
- Eggplant, sliced, prepared according to either of the two methods listed above, and coated with cornstarch
- Mixed sauce
- Aromatics, chopped (ginger, garlic)
How to cook Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce
1. Pan frying the eggplant until golden on the surface, and the inside has turned tender. Transfer the eggplant to a plate. This step is crucial to keep the eggplant crispy.
2. Saute the aromatics.
3. Add back the eggplant and add the mixed sauce. The sauce will thicken up immediately. And the dish is done!
This recipe only uses enough sauce to coat the eggplant to keep the eggplant pieces crispy.
More delicious eggplant recipes
- Yu Xiang Eggplant (鱼香茄子, Sichuan Eggplant Stir Fry)
- Steamed Eggplant in Nutty Sauce
- Spicy Eggplant Salad (凉拌茄子)
- Di San Xian (Fried Potato, Eggplant and Pepper in Garlic Sauce 地三鲜)
- Grilled Eggplant with Yu Xiang Sauce (鱼香烤茄子)
Happy cooking and hope you enjoy the dish!
Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce (红烧茄子)
Ingredients
- 10 oz (283 g) Chinese eggplant (about 2 small eggplant) , chopped to bite-size pieces (*Footnote 1)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Sauce (*footnote 2)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (*see footnote 3)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Stir-fry
- 2 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon ginger , minced
- 3 cloves garlic , chopped
Instructions
- (Option 1) Place eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix well. Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
- (Option 2) Spread the sliced eggplant out on a paper towel. Sprinkle Kosher salt on both sides of the eggplant slices. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Rinse with running tap water to wash off the salt, then pat dry thoroughly.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, mix well.
- Sprinkle eggplant with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and mix by hand, until eggplant is evenly coated with with a thin layer of cornstarch.
- Add 2 tablespoons oil to a big nonstick skillet and heat over medium high heat until hot. Spread eggplant across the bottom of the skillet without overlapping. Cook the eggplant one side at a time until all the surfaces are charred and the eggplant turns soft, 8 to 10 minutes in total. Transfer the eggplants to a plate. If the skillet gets too hot and starts to smoke, turn to medium heat.
- Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil, the ginger and garlic into the same skillet. Stir a few times until fragrant. Add all the eggplant back into the skillet. Mix the sauce again until cornstarch is fully dissolved and pour it over the eggplant. Immediately stir a few times, until the eggplant is evenly coated and the sauce thickens. Transfer everything to a big plate.
- Serve hot as a side or as main over steamed rice or noodles.
Notes
- You can use other type of eggplant and still generate crispy texture if following the method in this recipe. However, Asian long eggplant is the best option.
- This recipe uses very little sauce, just enough to coat the eggplant and make it tastes super flavorful. The rich sauce helps to keep the eggplant staying crispy. Be careful, the sauce will reduce very quickly once you add it to the pan. Stir immediately to coat the eggplant.
- The dark soy sauce will add color to the dish and make it look more appetizing. You can skip it if you don’t have any in your pantry.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! It looks like you garnished this dish with green onions?
Yum! I didn’t know this dish is so easy! Thank you fof such detailed recipe! I burnt some eggplants! Still taste great! I’m surprised that it didn’t taste oily at all like from the restaurant! ?
This was delicious! Next time I’d double the sauce. I couldn’t find Chinese eggplant so I used the small Italian eggplant and it worked fine. You just need something with fewer seeds.
Hi Andrea, I’m so happy to hear you like the recipe! Yes, it totally makes sense to make more sauce. Me too, I use other types of eggplant when I cannot find Asian eggplant, and they work well as long as I soak them in advance.
Can’t wait to hear what you cook the next 🙂
Cooking now! It’s smells amazing, added chicken. Serving with white rice. I’m wondering how it would taste with hoisin sauce? Maybe next time:). Thank you for the recipe. Pinned to my “recipe blogging friends” board.
Hi Jenny, thanks for your note. I hope the eggplant came out tasty! Are you thinking of using hoisin on the side or in the recipe itself? Hoisin has some overlap with the combination of two soy sauces, sugar, and cornstarch, so it could be a convenient shortcut. Let us know if you try it next time, and maybe we can include an alternate approach 🙂
Hi i tried the eggplant recipe and got compliments from my hubby!! Thanks for sharing your recipes. I took some pics too but dunno where to post it here. Thanks!!! Now i dont have to deep fry eggplants anymore! So happy
Hi Regina! Thanks for leaving a comment! Maggie’s own hubby here, and I definitely approve this eggplant recipe, having tried it countless times 🙂 If you have Instagram or Facebook, you can upload the photos there and tag omnivorescookbook. If not, you can email them to Maggie.
The recipe looks wonderful. I have adapted it on the fly because someone had chopped and prepped the eggplant too soon. Was doing a worchester sauce/vinegar based dish, but I expect it will mix well. And eggplant is the perfect vegetable for us meat eaters who live with vegetarians and vegans. It gives the same feel.
Garlic sauce recepie can be posted also.
It looks delicious
This looks so AMAZING! Oh, I want this sooo bad! 🙂
Very good,made it once!!making it again..tasty
I just made this tonight and it was so delicious! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Amazing recipe and technique. Better than take out!!
This technique made me fall all-over in love with eggplant again. Fantastic.
I think you left out an ingredient, water. I only realized this on the last step. Combing it all together in the pan. I quickly added some but did not know how much, so it turned out thick and strong still. Otherwise, I think it would have been great. Looking forward to trying more recipes from you. Felila
I cut the sugar in the sauce in half and increased the sauce amount, I also stir-fried in some sweet red pepper and baby bok choi to vary color and texture between the garlic/ginger mix and adding the eggplant. Result was excellent– I’ll be doing this one again. Thanks!
I thank you very much for an amazing recipe for the eggplant dish!
It is so easy to follow and very well guided.
Thank you 🙏
This was SO good! Absolutely delightful! Thank you for a great recipe.
I’ve done this recipe twice using the first prep method. I love it and it’s now in my list of favorites!
Best eggplant I have ever made! Great instructions and easy to follow. My family was very impressed. Thank you Maggie!
I made this eggplant recipe tonight for a family dinner. It was a great hit. The cornstarch makes it crispy and pan fried made less oily. Made it it ground pork and everyone loved it. Thank you so much for your recipe
Just tried this recipe tonight — the eggplant came out crispy on the outside and tender inside. I stir fried some chicken separately and combined it with the eggplant. Will repeat shortly with some variations — Thai basil.