December 26, 2014 Eggplant in Garlic Sauce with Chicken and steamed string beans

December 26, 2014  Eggplant in Garlic Sauce with Chicken and steamed string beans

We had PPI roasted chicken and an eggplant we wanted to eat, so we decided to make Suzette’s favorite dish, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce from the mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking Cookbook an add the PPI roasted chicken to it.  We also had a 2 lb. bag of string beans that needed to be cooked, so we decided to steam them. 

I made 2 cups of rice with four cups of water and 2 cups of Basmati rice, so we would have rice for several more mole meals.

Here is the recipe for the Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, which we have cooked many times:

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce.

You first make the Sauce

1 Tbsp. double dark soy sauce

2 tsp. Oyster Sauce

1 tsp. white rice wine vinegar

½ tsp. Shaoxing wine

½ tsp. pepper flakes from hot oil (we substituted a dash of chili oil tonight to avoid making the dish too spicy)

½ tsp. of cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. of chicken stock

Then I minced 2 Tbsps. of fresh garlic

Then I diced about 1 ½ lb. of PPI roasted chicken into ½ inch cubes

Then I sliced the large Chinese Eggplant into two inch by ½ inch strips (about two pounds) while Suzette made the sauce. 

Then Suzette sautéed the eggplant strips until tender in heated peanut oil.  The recipe calls for deep frying the eggplant strips in 4 cups of peanut oil, but we never use that much oil.

After Suzette had stir fried the eggplant, she stir fried the garlic and then added the chicken.  Then she returned the eggplants to the wok and stir fried the eggplant with the meat for a minute and then made a well in the middle of the ingredients and added the sauce and cooked the eggplant mixture for a minute or two. 

We steamed 1 lb. of string beans and served them with the rice and eggplant dish.

We drank Mexican beers with dinner.

The Eggplant in Garlic Sauce was delicious as usual and a nice change from Mexican molé.

Bon Appétit