Chinese Sichuan Eggplant in Garlic-Ginger Sauce

This wonderful dish is a cavas for your own touch of seasonings including as much hot chilies, garlic, or ginger that suits you.

The eggplant is the longer Chinese version, cut into equal length pieces, then sliced into bricks of evenwidth dimension or bite sized, so the eggplant steams evenly.

The eggplant is initially steamed in a two tiered steamer basket* to slightly tender, then dried with paper towels, retain for frying is a scant amount of peanut oil. Too much oil will turn the whole mess into something with up an unpleasant mouth feel.

* Alternatively, you can steam anyway in a method that suits your available equipment.

Garlic sauce ingredients 

Creating a good sauce is really easy and you only need these ingredients:

• dark soy sauce to add a beautiful dark brown colour to the dish and a hint of caramel taste.
• Sugar to  balance out the salty ingredients for a more rounded sauce.
• Cornstarch as a thicker to sauce
• Just mix everything together and pour it over the eggplant at the end of cooking
• Black vinegar to taste
• Shaoxing wine to taste
• Fish sauce to taste
• Optionally, a bit of oyster sauce 

Fry the dried eggplant to well coloured in a scant amount of oil, which can be hastened by dusting the eggplant with a bit of cornstarch or rice starch.Retain for later. Prepare Aromatics, minced ginger, garlic.  stir fry until fragrant. Add sauces, add back, toss the eggplant.

Garnish with diced scallions.

Fried Rice wt Lap Xuong, eggs, vegetables

This is fried rice for breakfast.

1 cup steamed jasmine white day old, refrigerated rice

Peanut oil as required 

Lap Xuong sausage,  sliced thinly

2 scallion sliced thinly and dividing the green from white sections 

2 shallots chopped

2 medium cloves chopped or minced garlic 

2 eggs, fried, chopped

1 tbls. Shoxing wine 

1 teaspoon of rose water

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons of soy sauce 

You can added additional ingredients if wanted. ( pimentos, red peppers)

 Cook sausage a dry wok over low heat, allowing the sausage to slowly give up some of its fat while cooking. When done retain for later.

Add a little oil, and stir fry, garlic and shallots, thewhites of scallion, any added vegetables.

When done, retain.

Add enough oil to fry eggs. When done, break up eggs with wok spoon. Add back rice to facilitate breaking sup eggs. Stir fry while adding the rest of the ingredients including the green scallion and sugar, wine, soy, rose water. Correct the seasonings.

TOM KHA GAI (IN 30 MINUTES!) From Woks of Life and others

Tom Kha Gai is a delicious Thai coconut chicken soup that’s emblematic of Thai cuisine’s harmonious balance of salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and bitter flavors. 

This Tom Kha Gai recipe tastes just like what you might find at a particularly good Thai restaurant, and despite its complex taste, you can make it in about 30 minutes.

I have taken liberties with the exact ingredients, pardon.

1 pound Boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 quart Homemade unsalted Chicken broth 

1 Can of Coconut cream or milk (preferably cream)

3 lemongrass stalks, bruised with back of a cleaver

1/2 or more thump ginger 

4-6 kaffir lime leaves

Thai chilies, sliced to 1/8”, qty as desired *

1/2 pound of cremini mushroom, cut into thirds of the mushroom

2-4 Splashes of fish sauce

Turbinado sugar or light brown sugar

Cilantro or Thai basil, as garnish 

Fresh lime juice

Remove the upper woody parts of the lemongrass stalks, and crushed the bulbous end with the bake of a rather heavy cleaver or chef’s knife to help release oils.

Cut chicken thighs into flats about 3/16 thick. Bring chicken stock to a boil, and add the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes until tender.

Add coconut cream

Add the herbs and chilies.

Add the mushrooms.

Add about half of the fish sauce and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat, and add most of the lime juice, holding back a little in reserve.  Taste and add more of the reserved fish sauce and lime juice to taste.

Stir in chopped cilantro

Serve on its own, or with jasmine white rice too!

* Thai chilies are hot, but it’s hot on the tip of the tongue only, and goes away 15 minutes later.

Also see Tom Yum Soup for the Shrimp variety which I also like treamendously.