Hello friends and not-yet-friends! Welcome back to Mary's Test Kitchen where we'll be making Chinese Deep Fried Eggplant with spicy garlic sauce It's a rich restaurant-style dish; buttery on the inside, crispy on the outside, and coated with intense flavours from fermented black bean, garlic, and spicy hot chilies
But not too spicy, unless you want it to be This is your Chinese eggplant, and there are no rules Except, try to use Chinese eggplant This long kind rather than the big round Globe eggplants These have thinner skins, less bitter
Only true for eggplants, not humans To prevent the eggplant from browning, submerge it in cold salted water right after cutting it up The pieces will float so you can use a bowl or plate to weigh them down In another bowl, combine cornstarch with salt and white pepper Remember, the full recipe with exact amounts and directions is on marystestkitchen
com, link in the description After draining the eggplant very well, you can toss them in Mix with your hands so every piece gets coated You should have all your other ingredients prepped before we go to the stove Crushed or minced garlic and garlic black bean sauce (which is made from fermented black beans)
You'll need a little sugar and some soy sauce Also, vegetarian mushroom sauce It's made as a one-to-one substitute for oyster sauce and I think it tastes better than oyster sauce actually Find it where Chinese groceries are sold or see the link I left in the description to find it online Finally, you'll want chopped scallion and chopped fresh hot chilies
Use more or less depending on your spice tolerance– First, we'll fry the eggplant Get a few inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot up to 365°F Use a thermometer for best results, but I've showed you the ol bubbly chopstick technique before If lots of bubbles stream from the chopstick when you stick it in, it's hot enough
Then fry the eggplant in small batches so the temperature doesn't drop too much Oil that isn't hot enough will drench into your eggplant and make it soggy rather than what we want: soft on the inside, crispy on the outside About 2 or 3 minutes per batch will do it; just until the outside is just slightly turning color If your eggplant browns faster than that, your oil is too hot And drain them on paper towels to get that excess oil
Never ever handle a camera while deep-frying manually That is, never ever ever do what I'm doing It's dangerous and you'll overcook your eggplant; like I'm doing right now If you overcook the eggplant, it's not the end of the world but it won't be buttery on the inside The inside will practically disappear and you'll have hollow pieces of eggplant
Good thing we're doing this in batches If you don't want to deep-fry eggplant, well, you don't want to make this dish You can, however, steam the eggplant and use that instead for a dish with the same awesome flavours, almost, but a completely different texture that's delicious in it's own right Or try my eggplant and lentil stir-fry Similar but also packed with protein
But that's not what we're going for today Today is for indulgence, for comfort, for celebrations Once all your eggplant is fried, go on to another pan with a little oil over medium high heat Add the garlic and garlic black bean sauce Stir-fry so it becomes fragrant but don't let it burn
Then add scallions and red chilies; stir-fry about 30 seconds until the scallions turn bright Add sugar, soy sauce, and vegetarian mushroom sauce Give the cornstarch slurry a mix, then add it to the pan as well Turn off the heat as the sauce thickens Lastly, add the fried eggplant to heat it through again
Fold the sauce over everything gently with a spatula And you're pretty much done Garnish with scallions and cilantro if you like cilantro And this is perfect on plain steamed rice The eggplant is soft and creamy but still has crispy edges here and there for a wonderful contrast
And the sauce is spicy but not super spicy; salty with that delicous fermented black bean flavour Not too bitter because the sugar balances it out I really hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think! And let me know what other Chinese restaurant recipes you want to see Whether it's an traditional Chinese classic dish or not, I love veganizing recipes and sharing them with you Please give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and share it on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or where ever you hang out online
It really helps out this channel so I can bring you even more delicious vegan goodness And subscribe and hit the bell for notifications if you haven't already for new vegan recipes and reviews, like the hot for food cookbook review that's coming up soon Thanks so much for watching, friends Bye for now!
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