Chinese eggplants are used in this dish because they are longer, skinnier, and have a lighter shade of purple. They hold up better when cooked and are a little denser as well. This recipe has a light spicy kick, though you can crank it up if you want. Since I was a young child, my mother has been preparing this for me. It is excellent!
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 4 Chinese eggplants, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 inch half moons
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons garlic powder, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 5 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Cook and stir eggplant in hot oil until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in water, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer until water is absorbed.
- Meanwhile, mix together soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl until sugar and cornstarch are dissolved.
- Stir sauce into eggplant until evenly coated. Continue cooking until sauce is thickened.
Reviews
I have been looking for this recipe for a while. To make it taste more like the restaurant’s, I added 1 tsp of sesame seed oil to the eggplant and only 1 tsp of the red pepper flakes. This will definitely be a new addition to our family favorites.
This was delicious. We will be using this sauce on many different things.
Rich & Spicy but not over the top Easy and very flavorful This will be signature dish if I ever open a eatery
I made what was approximately a double recipe of this, and only used one tablespoon of red pepper flakes, and it was still too spicy. I suggest that everyone start with a very small quantity of the pepper flakes, and slowly increase it. My lips and mouth were a bit numb after I ate this — I will definitely dial it back next time!
I think 1 Tablespoon of red pepper flakes was too much. I recommend the 1 tsp instead. You can add more later if you want this hotter.
It turned out well. I used a regular eggplant – about 1 1/2 pounds, leaving approx. 1/3 of the outer skin on for a nicer look. I also used only 1 tsp. of the red pepper flakes instead of 1 Tablespoon and it was still almost too spicy/hot. (for me.) Overall, a good recipe I will make again.
This was quick, easy, used things I already had in my pantry and was SO good! I followed the ideas from a few others and doubles the sauce, added a pound of ground pork and used a lot of sambal instead of a little red pepper flakes. It was awesome. I can’t wait to try it with other veggies and tofu!
I have made this a couple of times and it is the best outside of the Thai restaurant of any recipe I’ve tried. I have made it with fresh garlic and powder and the fresh is definitely best. I add onion, red bell pepper and this time some fresh green beans. I have used Hoisin sauce because of being out of oyster sauce and it’s really good that way too.
Simply delicious.
Love eggplant so I had to try this. YUM! A bit spicy so have a glass of cold water handy.
Great recipe for those who want a good tasty dish using eggplant. Also great for those intimidated by eggplant
This was excellent! Only difference from the stuff you buy is that there’s no meat in this version. The only change I made was to use minced garlic rather than garlic powder.
I expected this to be good, I truly was not prepared for it to be SOOOOOO AMAZING! It is so easy, now I make it all the time!
This was so simple and delicious I didn’t use sugar instead I used some monk fruit sweetener , I added some shredded carrot as well but fantastic side dish or main
Mine just ended up as mush. The water wasn’t really absorbed. Just boiled off. And it was quite a bit of garlic
I tweaked this recipe Eggplant gives off alot of water so its best to cut up, salt it and leave it for 30 mins to draw the salt out…if you dont the liquid you add will double and it will not come out the right way. I did fry my eggplant for only 3 mins as others suggested. I also added ginger , I used stock instead of water, extra fresh garlic, a touch of sesame oil and br sugar instead of white. All above were suggested by other reviewers. Dont! Over fry the eggplant!
This was an excellent way of using eggplants for a side dish. I used 2 small eggplants. This recipe was so good! I made it as written, but added brown rice to make a side dish for a steak dinner. Great flavor and easy to make. Thanks for offering this recipe. YUM!
Made in wok, used chicken stock instead of water, crushed garlic instead of powder.
OMG!! And here I was missing Asia and Asian food. This recipe is spot on. Didn’t change a thing and it’s perfect. Definitely a cure for my family’s Asian cravings.
I thought this was wonderful. A full tablespoon of crushed red pepper made it fairly spicy but I liked it. It had a really rich eggplant flavor. I will be making this again.
Cooked as per instructions. Really nice. Next time (and there will be one as we like our eggplant), might try the “salt, sweat, drain” the eggplant before doing the rest of the recipe. I would recommend!