Aubergine with Pork & Chilli-Garlic Sauce

Aubergine with Pork & Chilli-Garlic Sauce is an utterly delicious but easy Chinese-inspired stir-fry.

Chunks of aubergine are first fried until golden. Next, they’re quickly braised in a heady sauce including juicy minced pork, ginger, garlic, spring onions, soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, and chilli oil.

Served over noodles, rice, or eaten as one of several Chinese style dishes, I think you’ll love this simple stir-fry.

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Although the ingredients list and instructions for Aubergine with Pork & Chilli-Garlic Sauce look lengthy, please don’t let that put you off. This really is simple to cook.

If you do any Chinese-inspired cooking, you’ll probably have most of the store cupboard ingredients like soy sauce and Shaoxing/Shaohsing rice wine anyway.

But perhaps you haven’t tried crispy chilli in oil?

One of my current favourite things, I highly recommend you get to know this spicy, crunchy wonder. And if you can get the version which includes peanuts, that’s even better for this dish.

However, you could use your own favourite chilli oil or chilli paste instead.

But if you’re not at all familiar with Chinese cooking, then I think this recipe is a great place to start. For very little effort you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful-tasting dish.

After you’ve made this stir-fry once, I doubt you’ll even need the instructions.

AUBERGINE WITH PORK & CHILLI-GARLIC SAUCE

Admittedly, browning the aubergine can take a little while if you have to do it in batches. I also recommend the optional step of first soaking the aubergine in salted water for 30 minutes. This is so it will soak up less oil when you fry it.

But after that the stir fry goes very quickly indeed.

Briefly, the steps are:

• Cut up the aubergine and (if you have the time and inclination) soak in salty water for 30 minutes.
• Stir together all the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce and set aside.
• Dust the aubergine pieces in cornflour, fry until golden and set aside.
• Brown the minced pork with a little of the stir-fry sauce.
• Add garlic, ginger, and the white parts of spring onions to the pork, shortly followed by the aubergine.
• Pour in the rest of the stir-fry sauce along with some chopped coriander and cook briefly until the aubergine’s done to your liking. Thicken with a little cornflour paste for the final minute or two.
• Serve sprinkled with more coriander and some toasted sesame seeds.

Now that doesn’t sound too difficult, does it?

I love Aubergine with Pork & Chilli-Garlic Sauce over buttered noodles or plain boiled rice. A crunchy cucumber salad alongside is good too.

But it would also be lovely as one of several Chinese-inspired dishes to share.

Simple, but so good!

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Aubergine with Pork & Chilli-Garlic Sauce

A delicious but simple Chinese inspired stir-fry with a punchy sauce. Serve over noodles or rice, or as one of several dishes to share.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword stir fry

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Soaking time (optional) 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 2 as a main course

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 2 medium aubergines
• 2 tsp salt optional: see Instructions step 2
• 1½ tbsp cornflour
• oil for frying
• 250 g minced pork
• 6 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 3 cm root ginger finely chopped or grated
• 6 spring onions finely sliced, white and green kept separate
• 3 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Stir-fry sauce

• 4 tbsp Shaoxing cooking rice wine
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp crispy chilli in oil (ideally with peanuts) or chilli oil, chilli paste
• 2 tsp sugar or to taste
• 1 tsp Sichuan pepper

Instructions

1. Top and tail the aubergines, slice lengthways, then cut into approximately 2-3 cm thick pieces.

2. Optional step: soak the aubergine so it will soak up less oil when fried

   Put the aubergine pieces in a large bowl, cover with water and stir in the 2 tsp of salt.

   Lay an upturned plate over the aubergine so that it stays submerged under the water.

   Leave to soak for 30 mins, drain in a colander (no need to rinse), then pat dry on kitchen paper.

3. Make the stir-fry sauce

   Put all the stir-fry sauce ingredients in a bowl or jug, mix together well then set aside.

4. Brown the aubergine

   Toss the aubergine pieces in ONE tablespoon of the cornflour.

   Heat a layer of oil in a large frying pan or wok to high.

   Working in batches, quickly cook the aubergine on all sides until golden. Transfer pieces to a kitchen paper-lined plate while you cook the rest, adding more oil as needed.

5. Stir-fry

   Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan or wok to moderately high.

   Add the minced pork, in a single layer if possible, and cook for 2 minutes without stirring so it browns underneath.

   Add 2 tbsp of the stir-fry sauce to the pork then turn and stir-fry for another 2 minutes or until the pork is cooked through.

6. Add the garlic, ginger and the WHITE part of the spring onions to the pan or wok, then stir fry for 1 minute (turn the heat down to prevent burning if necessary).

7. Add the browned aubergine to the pan or wok, tossing and stir-frying for another minute.

8. Pour in the rest of the stir-fry sauce plus half the chopped coriander and cook until the aubergine is done to your liking (2-5 min).

9. Mix the remaining ½ tbsp of cornflour with a little water and stir it into the pan or wok. Cook for another minute or two to thicken.

10. Serve the stir-fry sprinkled with the remaining coriander and the toasted sesame seeds.

Enjoy this recipe? You may also like Chinese Pork Meatballs