Szechuan Eggplant

So…you’ve all met my kitchen by now..

I’ve been cooking in here for the last 9 months, and the stove top only has one functioning burner (long story…).  It’s not bad as far as Indian kitchens go, and it’s a hell of a lot better than most.

So, in my frig I have half an eggplant, left over rice from my fried rice yesterday and noodles left over from my MVT wannabe Coconut Peanut Butter Sauce on Noodles.

I’m inspired!

Get the eggplant out, reach for the garlic and onions…

and WHOA! Out jumps the kitchen gecko, obviously as startled as I was! He made a dash for the kitchen window and froze….thinking maybe I wouldn’t see him if he just stood still, but there he is….

 

 

 

…and here’s a close-up, he still thinks we don’t see him…

Anyhow…you can probably tell, this cooking blog is not for the squeamish!

And on to the recipe…

Half an eggplant, cut into cubes (If you have more, use it!  I only had half in my frig)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp of toasted sesame seed oil

1 red onion, chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp of “Fun Food” Red Chilli Sauce

1 tsp red chilli flakes (or more if you like it hot)

2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

2 tsp of sugar

1 tbsp of corn flour

1 cup of water

 

Add the oils to a frying pan and heat; add the cubed eggplant and stir  fry until soft and browning, 4-5 minutes, or so.  Remove the eggplant from the pan.

If you need to add a little more oil, go ahead.  Then add the chopped onions and saute until soft and beginning to brown.  Add the chopped garlic, chilli flakes and the red chilli sauce, give it a few stirs then remove from the heat while you prepare the sauce.

Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, corn flour and water until smooth.  Put the onion and garlic mixture back on the burner, and add the soy sauce mixture, stirring constantly.  As it comes to a boil, the sauce will thicken.  Add the eggplant, stir to mix.

Now, at this point, you could just keep the eggplant mixture in the frying pan, and pull out another pan, and put it on another burner, but I can’t do that, for reasons already explained.  The goal here is to fry up some rice and noodles, so do it however you can.

 

 

Here’s my rice and noodles,

unceremoniously dumped from their containers onto a plate –

 

Add a little oil to a frying pan and add the noodles when the oil is hot. I like to let my noodles cook first to get them a little crispy.  Then, add the rice and stir fry until it reaches your desired consistency.  I like fried rice crispy and kind of crunchy, so I stir fry for a long time – maybe ten minutes or so.

When the rice and noodle stir fry is done, you’re ready to go!!

Put the rice noodle fry on a nice place, pour your sweet, sticky, spicey eggplant over it and top it all off with some fresh cilantro!  I like lots of cilantro on this dish!