Chinese-Style Eggplant (Eggplant with Garlic Sauce)

c/o Recipehubs.com

Oh, eggplant. Coming from an Italian family, it’s nearly a holy food, usually prepared a la parmesan or grilled topped with melted mozzarella with an olive-oil drizzle.

Last week, though, neither of those were going to work for me because 1. It’s freaking hot in my apartment (I will starve before I turn on my oven ), 2. I don't have a grill, and

3. I was craving Chinese eggplant. 

The last time I had this deliciousness was on vacation in the Adirondacks at a wine bar. It was melty and sweet and spicy and flavorful and sublime. I’m surprised I hadn’t craved it sooner.

I found a recipe on AllRecipes and got to work.

1. Cut up eggplants. Praise God, you don’t have to skin them. That alone is a reason to make this recipe, am I right?

2. Put them in a pan with some olive oil to cook a bit.

3. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, garlic powder and chili flakes. I’m lazy, so I added everything into the pan without whisking it first. Worked fine for me.

4. Cook into deliciousness.

When you take it off of the stove, it’s this soft, melty, sweet, spicy wonderful creation. It’s comfort food that you don’t have to simmer on low for five hours, and it also isn’t full of MSG, corn syrup, or whatever else our local dining establishments use to jack up our food.

On that note, this might be the easiest recipe ever. And, aside from fish sauce, which you can find at any Asian supermarket, you probably already have most of the ingredients in your house! It ’s so flavorful and heavy that I found it totally satisfying as the main dish. If you’re hoping to eat more than just eggplant (and, really, why would you be???) I’d pair it with something super light in flavor, maybe grilled chicken. Grilled chicken made on the stove because, you know, summer. Or you could cut up the chicken into strips and cook it in the same pan as the eggplant…

Oh, baby.

Suffice it to say that this hit the spot so much that I ended up taking the leftovers with me on a beach vacation. Sure, boardwalk fries are good, but they’re not this.

*I couldn’t get any decent photos from cooking. Here's a blurry photo to prove it:

Happy cooking!