Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Steamed Eggplant with Meat Sauce

I think by now you should know that I love eggplant as I had quite a few eggplant dishes here. If I see some nice firm eggplant at the Asian store I will definitely buy it. As for Carlos he is not a fan of it. There is no way I can make him eat it no matter how I cook it.

This is a relatively simple dish to cook. Normally I will just stir-fry the eggplant together with the minced meat but this time I did something different. I first steamed the eggplants and then cook the meat sauce and pour over it. As usual I added some chilies to the sauce to give it a bit of spicy kick to the dish and it goes really well with rice.

Ingredients:

2 Japanese/Asian eggplants
1 piece chicken breast/or any type of protein – minced
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
2 shallots - sliced thinly
2 small red chilies – sliced thinly
1 tbsp of fermented bean paste (tau cheong)
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
½ cup of water + 1/2 tsp of cornstarch
2 spring onion – diced small

1. Clean and cut the eggplant into 1” length. Season with some olive oil and salt and steam on high heat until soft.
2. While the eggplant is steaming, cook the sauce. Heat up a tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan, stir fry garlic and shallots until fragrant and lightly brown.
3. Add in the fermented bean paste, stir-fry for a few second and add in the meat and chilies. Continue to stir-fry until the meat changes color.
4. Add in all the seasoning and the water. Bring it up to boil and cook until sauce reduce and thicken. Check seasoning.
5. Pour sauce over the steamed eggplant and sprinkle the top with some spring onion. Serve warm.

22 comments:

Dori said...

Your kitchen snippets make me hungry, you have so much goodies here... I love eggplant too and this recipe is awesome... I'll have to try soon!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hey, I can see that steaming the eggplant retain the color too. The sauce on top looks delicious!

valkuan said...

Gert, I love eggplant as well!!! I love Okra / ladyfingers equally much. How about you? I have an eggplant in the fridge but no Chinese, never mind die die also much try!

delia said...

Hi Gert, i love eggplants very much. would like to ask you whether you are using the sweet or salty fermented bean paste?

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

I seldom cook eggplant because kids doesn't like it, anyway, this dish look really delicious, I'm thinking to cook it soon, just for me and my husband lor..Thanks for sharing..

Anonymous said...

This is my favourite way of eating eggplants. Looking at your pictures make me want to cook it for dinner tonight.

Health Freak Mommy said...

What about stuffing the eggplant with fish paste or cook it with curry paste as in fish head curry or veggie curry? Would he eat it then? I don't like eggplant but if cooked these 2 ways, I like it!
BTW, all your dishes, pies and cakes here are making my tummy rumble now!!

Charmaine said...

I love eggplants too. Like Carlos, my hubby doesn't like it except if it's cooked in the salt and pepper way. I must try steaming them next time. I usually stir-fry them with meat.

Mommychubby said...

Hi
thanks for showing this recipe. I normally just grilled and ate with sambal. Now I have another option to cook the eggplants.

mycookinghut said...

yum yum... great dish, gert!

Grace said...

Mmm...yumm! Looks delicious! I'm craving eggplant now. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

Olivia said...

Hi

I've sent you a Kreativ Blogger Award. You have been nominated as you have always spiced up my culinary journey.

Please refer to my blog for the award details.

Thanks and Cheers
Olivia

Christelle said...

Oh I love this dish!!Thank you so much folr the recipe!! :)

ICook4Fun said...

Meeso, I am sure you are going to like this eggplant dish :)

LCOM, actually some of the eggplant did turn brown. Only a few retain its color.

Valkuan, I too love Okra but not my husband. He can't understand why I eat the slimy vegetable :)

Delia, is there a sweet fermented bean paste? I never knew that :) I used the salty kind.

Sonia, no many people like eggplant especially kids. My grandmother used to plant a lot of eggplant so we grew up eating of it :)

Ellie, mine too :)

Health Freak Mommy, my husband won't eat any eggplant no matter what style I cook :)

Charmaine, you husband is like mine :)

Mommychubby, you are welcome.

Leemei, thank you.

ICook4Fun said...

Grace, you are most welcome :)

Olivia, thanks for the award.

Christelle, you are welcome.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Today I saw nice purple eggplants, I bought some, going to cook the same way today, yummy..

JT said...

Hi, I have tried cooking the dish and it is really yummy!

petite nyonya said...

Wah,this eggplant dish looks yummy. Am sure the taste guarantees it too!

Anonymous said...

This look so yummy! i will definitely try this... :)

MOMO said...

delicious variation:
-added some ginger to the garlic/shallots
-added fresh chilis to the sauce at the end to make it a bit spicier
- I also read that you canquickly blanch the eggplant pieces in 3 inches of sizzling oil to keep them purple (else they turn brown)

Linda said...

I just made a spicy eggplant for dinner and it didn't look as pretty as yours. Eggplant is such a difficult veggie to photography but you did a very good job!

ICook4Fun said...

Nyonya, thank you. Yes it taste great.

Blogresipi, hope you like this dish.

Quayar, thanks for the cooking tips :)

Linda, yes it turn dark pretty quick :)