Fish-Fragrant Eggplants - Yuxiang Qiezi

(Sichuan Braised Eggplant With Garlic, Ginger, and Chilies)

This dish is a show-stopper. Humble in its ingredients and brilliant in its flavour, it’s my new fav way of cooking eggplant.

Taken from Fuschia Dunlop’s The Food of Sichuan book, the dish has more of a gentle flavour compared to say the numbing and hot profile of Mala Hot Pot. The “fish fragrant” flavour is one of the Sichuanese classics. It’s a mix of pickled chilies, ginger, garlic, and scallion, and the ‘fish fragrant’ name refers to the seasonings of traditional fish dishes. Meaning there is no fish in this dish, just the ingredients that usually flavour fish dishes. The sauce is sweet, sour and a touch spicy and once cooked down, the eggplants come out buttery and tender. A dish that is wonderful served hot or cold, it’s basically magic in a pan.

*Watch Fuschia cook this dish here:

Makes: 4 servings

Takes: 1 hr

INGREDIENTS

• 1-2 large eggplants. (About 500-600g)

• Salt

• Vegetable oil for deep frying

• 1 1/2 tbsp Sichuan chile bean paste or pickled chilies

• 1 1/2 tbsp garlic, chopped finely

• 1 tbsp ginger, chopped finely

• 150ml water or hot stock (I prefer using stock as it deepens the flavour)

• 4 tsp white sugar

• 1 tsp light soy sauce

• 3/4 tsp potato starch, mixed with 1 tbsp cold water (this helps thicken the sauce)

• 1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

• 6 tbsp thinly sliced scallion greens (use the green vs the white part as it’s lighter and brighter and not too spicy.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut and salt your eggplants. Fuschia’s recipe calls for batons but I also cut mine into inch chunks. Make sure the eggplants are mixed with the salt well and set aside for 30 min.

2. While this is happening prep and chop your garlic, ginger, and scallions.

3. Rinse the eggplant, and pat dry with paper towels.

4. Add your deep-frying oil to your wok. You want the oil hot enough to sizzle violently around the eggplant. Around 200°C. This will prevent the eggplant from getting soggy. No one likes a soggy eggplant.

5. Add the eggplant in batches and deep fry until tender and golden. About 3 minutes.

6. Remove once cooked and drain well on paper towels and set aside.

7. Pour off most of your cooking oil from the wok. Leave about 3 tbsp and return the wok to medium heat.

8. Add the chili bean paste until it is fragrant and red. You want the chile bean paste to be simmering gently in the oil.

9. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant. Again watch the heat so you don’t burn it.

10. Pour in the stock, sugar, and soy sauce and bring this mixture to a boil.

11. Add the eggplant but be careful not to break apart the eggplant as you stir. Turn down the heat and let this simmer for a minute or two. (This is when the eggplant absorbs all the flavour)

12. Pour in the potato starch and water mixture and stir gently. This will thicken the sauce into a gravy-like texture.

13. Lastly, add in the vinegar to “make it sing” and the scallion greens for a pop of colour.

14. Pour into a serving dish and eat right away or serve cold.