Stir-fried eggplant with plum sauce (苏梅酱茄子)

However, as I grew older, deep-fried eggplant became nothing more than a childhood memory, simply because deep-frying is not my preferred cooking method, and I always try to reduce the volume of oil in dishes as much as possible.

Eggplant is, unfortunately, a vegetable often cooked in quite a lot of oil in order to achieve a softer, creamier texture. If stir-fried with just a little oil, it often stays hard and rubbery, very unpleasant to eat.

The pre-cooking method

For me, it was a real dilemma until I discovered two methods to change the texture of eggplant by pre-cooking it before stir-frying.

• Firstly, I tried steaming and it worked! If you get the timing right, eggplant pieces will come out soft but not too mushy. You might find it a bit watery, but the moisture will be easily evaporated during stir-frying.
• The second method it to microwave, which will give eggplant a nice texture and is less watery than steaming. It is worth noting that you need to cook the chunks in small volumes each time otherwise you might find them softened unevenly. With pre-cooked eggplant in hand, what you need is just one tablespoon of oil for making this scrumptious dish.

A great sauce to season

Apart from a creamy texture, a rich sauce is the other key to a delicious eggplant stirfry. Plum sauce is often used as a dipping sauce for deep-fried dishes like spring rolls. It’s sweet, fruity, vinegary and a little spicy. I find it ideal for vegetables like eggplant which doesn’t have a distinct taste on its own.

I also use lots of garlic in my recipe as it’s the classic company for eggplant. Other ingredients, such as soy sauce, rice wine, ginger and scallions, are used to balance the sweetness of the plum sauce and to create a more sophisticated flavour. Adding an extra zing to this dish, fresh chilli is optional but highly recommended.