Ffebruary 16, 2017. Lunch - PPI salad and Chirashi. Dinner - Eggplant in Garlic Sauce and rice

February 16, 2017 Lunch – PPI salad and Chirashi. Dinner – Stir Fried Garlic flavored eggplant and rice

I made a man on a raft for breakfast by toasting a piece of integral sandwich loaf in butter with an egg on top.

I then attended a meeting and afterward went to Costco to buy Kleenex and spinach, a bottle of probiotic gummie bears, and dish soap capsules.  Then I went to Sprouts where I bought Greek yogurt, tofu, a large filet of fresh Cod, two red bell peppers for $1.00, two bunches of asparagus for $1.88/lb., a handful of green beans for $.88/lb., and a 6 oz. container of blueberries for $2.50.

It was a bit after noon when I arrived home.  I put PPI salad and Chirashi on a plate, made a cup of green tea and filled a dipping bowl half full of soy.  I then added some wasabi from the takeout box and enjoyed salad and Chirashi for lunch.

Suzette came home early to finish painting cabinets and we discussed dinner.  She said, we need to eat the eggplants I had bought last Wednesday and I agreed.  At 3:30 I rode to just north of the Wildlife Center and back.

After eating a snack of salmon terrine on toasted whole wheat baguette I sliced the two eggplants into 2 inch by 1/3 inch strips, finely minced about 2 tsp.  garlic, and cubed the approximately ½ lb. of pork tenderloin that I had thawed for the dish.

When Suzette finished painting at 6:00 she had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and watched the news until 7:00 and then began to cook dinner

I heated 2 cups of water with 1 tsp. Of dehydrated chicken stock, 1 tsp of dried wakame seaweed.  When it began to boil I added a cup of basmati rice to the  boiling water, turned down the heat to its lowest setting, covered the pot, and cooked the rice for30 minutes.

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

Suzette first deep fried the eggplant strips in about ½ cup of medium hot peanut oil in a wok and made a seasoning sauce of

1 T. double dark soy sauce

2 tsp. Oyster sauce

½ tsp.  Shaoxing  wine

1 tsp. White rice vinegar

½ tsp. Hot pepper fakes from hot pepper oil

2 tsp. Sugar

½ tsp. Cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

After all the eggplant strips had been softened and started to brown she removed them from the oil to drain in a bowl lined with a paper towel.

Suzette then poured off all but 1 ½ T. of the oil and increased the heat of the oil so that when the pork and garlic the oil gave off a wisp of  smoke.

She cooked the garlic and pork until it changed color and returned the eggplant to the wok and cooked it for about 2 minutes until the eggplant and garlic and pork flavors mixed.

Suzette then made a well in the mixture, stirred the seasoning sauce and poured it into the well in the mixture.

She then stir fried the mixture for about 2 minutes until the sauce thickened.

Suzette fetched bottles of beer from the garage and she plated our plates with rice and scoops of the eggplant mixture.  It was a simple but immensely delicious dish thanks to Eileen Lo’s wonderful cookbook, Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking.

Bon Appetit