Aubergine Stir Fry Recipe from the Orient!
My aubergine stir fry is dark, sweet and seductively hot! Rich in colour, it covers all the taste bases – hot, sweet, sour, easy and delicious!
I stumbled across a version of an aubergine stir fry years ago while travelling through China and was hooked. After many attempts at trying to recreate that aubergine dish, I’ve finally created a version that while it’s not exactly the same it’s damn tasty!
Love aubergine? Check out my other aubergine recipes.
You’ll notice in many aubergine recipes it calls for the aubergines to be salted to help extract some of their liquid and remove their bitterness. To be honest, nowadays most of that bitterness has been bred out of aubergines so I don’t see the need to much about with salting.
Aubergines are used alot throughout Asia and China (mainly the little baby aubergines) and are incredibly versatile; whether it is an aubergine stir fry, curry or roasted and stuffed.
Looking for some Asian or Chinese recipe inspiration? Then look no further!
One point to note is aubergines are like a sponge; they will literally soak up every drop of oil you put into a pan. As such when you fry aubergine; use a little oil at first and fry them on a high heat. I usually add a little more oil throughout the cooking process.
Aubergines Stir Fry Recipe:
Serves 4 (as a side) – Ingredients:
2 large aubergines diced into 2 inch cubes
Few tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt
4 garlic cloves diced
2 inches fresh ginger diced
5 spring onions finely chopped
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 whole red chilli sliced (inc. seeds)
2 tablespoons sugar or honey
2 tablespoons of white rice vinegar (if not, malt vinegar will work)
1/2 cup water
Small bunch of fresh chopped coriander (including stalks).
Aubergine Stir Fry – Method:
- Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot then add the diced aubergine in one layer and just leave to brown for a minute before poking around with your spoon! Wait for it…. now stir…
- Once the aubergine is browned add the garlic, ginger, spring onions (save a few pinches) and chilli (save a few pinches) and fry for another minute.
- Add the dark soy sauce (careful not to overkill), sugar, vinegar, 1/2 cup water and some seasoning, bring to rapid boil then simmer for 5 minutes until sauce is reduced and aubergine is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir through most of the coriander.
- This should be a devilishly dark looking dish, very rich, spicy and tasting of the orient – the secret is don’t overkill the soy sauce!
- Finish with a sprinkle of coriander, chilli and spring onions to add some vibrancy of colour.
Goes well with just about anything, especially day dreams of adventures in China…
Aubergine Stir Fry Recipe from the Orient!
Serves 4 (as a side) – Ingredients:
- 2 large aubergines diced into 2 inch cubes
- Few tablespoons of vegetable oil
- Salt
- 4 garlic cloves diced
- 2 inches fresh ginger diced
- 5 spring onions finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 whole red chilli sliced ((inc. seeds))
- 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
- 2 tablespoons of white rice vinegar ((if not, malt vinegar will work))
- 1/2 cup water
- Small bunch of fresh chopped coriander ((including stalks).)
Aubergine Stir Fry – Method:
- Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot then add the diced aubergine in one layer and just leave to brown for a minute before poking around with your spoon! Wait for it…. now stir…
- Once the aubergine is browned add the garlic, ginger, spring onions (save a few pinches) and chilli (save a few pinches) and fry for another minute.
- Add the dark soy sauce (careful not to overkill), sugar, vinegar, 1/2 cup water and some seasoning, bring to rapid boil then simmer for 5 minutes until sauce is reduced and aubergine is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir through most of the coriander.
- This should be a devilishly dark looking dish, very rich, spicy and tasting of the orient – the secret is don’t overkill the soy sauce!
- Finish with a sprinkle of coriander, chilli and spring onions to add some vibrancy of colour.
Goes well with just about anything, especially day dreams of adventures in China…
One point to note is aubergines are like a sponge; they will literally soak up every drop of oil you put into a pan. As such when you fry aubergine; use a little oil at first and fry them on a high heat. I usually add a little more oil throughout the cooking process.
Awesome article!