Discover a fantastic way to cook vegetables! Di San Xian features three humble veggies, fried to perfection and flavored with a delectable sauce. Simply delicious!
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What is Di San Xian
Today, I’m introducing one of the tastiest vegan Chinese dishes: Di San Xian (地三鲜), stir-fried eggplant, potato and pepper. It’s a classic dish from Northeastern cuisine (Dōng Běi Cài/东北菜), which is heavily influenced by Lu Cuisine/鲁菜, one of the Four Great Cuisines of China.
The literal meaning of Dì Sān Xiān is “three umami foods from the earth”, referring to the three vegetables featured in the dish. While the ingredient composition may sound ordinary, the overall taste is amazingly delicious.
The eggplant, potato, and pepper are first cut into large chunks, and then fried until crispy. A brown, thick, aromatic sauce is added at the end to bring all the elements together in harmony.
For those who have requested recipes that highlight vegetables, this dish is a treasure not to be missed.
🌟 BONUS: When testing this recipe, I replaced the traditional deep-frying method with shallow-frying. It requires much less oil and worked very well!
Ingredients
Here are the three star vegetables for Di San Xian:
- Eggplants (aubergine). I prefer the Asian/Chinese variety, which is long and cylindrical with a vibrant lavender color, sweet undertones, and a tender texture. If you have trouble sourcing these, regular, oblong eggplants can be used as a substitute (Learn their difference in my post on Steamed Eggplant).
- Potatoes. Choose the starchy types, such as russet, Yukon gold, etc.
- Peppers. They can be bell peppers or large fleshy chili peppers. Choose any color that you like.
To season the dish, you’ll need these common condiments:
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Shaoxing rice wine, or dry sherry
- Cornstarch
- White pepper
- Salt & sugar
- Garlic
- Scallions
🌟 NOTE: Dark soy sauce adds an appetizing brown shine and a sweet undertone to the dish. If unavailable, it’s fine to only use light soy sauce.
Cooking procedure
Step 1: prepare the vegetables
Use the roll-cut technique (aka oblique cut) cut the eggplants: Cut crosswise diagonally, then give it a quarter turn and cut at an angle again (Watch the video inside the recipe card below). This method creates a larger surface area, allowing more sauce to cling to the pieces. Cut the potato and pepper into similar sizes and shapes for uniform cooking.
Sprinkle a little salt over the eggplant pieces. Let them sit for about 5 minutes until their surface becomes wet. Then add cornstarch and use your hand to mix, ensuring an even coating.
This procedure helps the eggplant gain a crispy crust and prevents it from absorbing too much oil during frying.
Step 2: shallow fry the vegetables
Begin by heating oil over medium heat in a wok or skillet. Fry the potato pieces first. Flip them a few times to lightly brown all sides. Once done, remove and place them on a wire rack or a paper towel-lined plate/tray.
Next, add the peppers to fry. Once their skin starts to blister, transfer them out to drain alongside the potatoes.
Increase the heat to high and add the eggplant. Continue to fry until each piece is golden and crispy.
Step 3: Season the dish
Before you start the final step, measure and mix all the condiments with a little water.
Pour out the oil, keeping just a thin coating in the wok. Add chopped scallions and minced garlic. Fry them on low heat until they become aromatic.
Before adding the sauce, stir it thoroughly in case any cornstarch has settled at the bottom. Pour it into the wok and stir immediately as it thickens quickly.
Add all the fried vegetables back into the wok and toss them briefly to ensure they are evenly coated with the sauce.
🌟 NOTE: It’s crucial to keep the heat low during this step. Also, make sure to swirl the sauce constantly. This way, the sauce will thicken reasonably slowly and there won’t be any lumps.
Serving ideas
Now that you have a plate of delicious vegetable stir-fry, simply scoop some over a bowl of steamed rice and devour it!
To add some protein to the meal, consider trying Char Siu Chicken, Beef Stew, Red-braised Pork Belly, Kung Pao Shrimp, Mapo Tofu, and many more dishes available on the recipe index page.
Other tasty veggie dishes
Looking for more delicious ideas to cook vegetables? Try these popular ones:
📋 Recipe card
Love this recipe? Please leave a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and a comment. Thank you!
Di San Xian (Stir Fried Eggplant, Potato and Pepper)
Video
Ingredients
For the vegetables
- 1 Asian eggplant, about 6 oz (170 g), see note 1
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 medium potato, about 9 oz (250 g)
- 1 bell pepper, about 6 oz (170 g)
For seasoning
- 1½ tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine, or dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 5 tablespoon water
You also need
- 4 tablespoon neutral cooking oil
- 4 clove garlic, minced
- 1 stalk scallions, finely chopped
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables
- Cut the eggplant into large bite-sized pieces using the roll-cut technique: cut crossways at a 45° angle, then give it a quarter turn and cut again. Sprinkle salt over and let sit for 5 minutes. Then evenly coat the pieces with cornstarch.
- Peel the potato and cut it into pieces similar in size and shape to the eggplant. Then cut the pepper.
Mix the sauce
- In a small bowl, mix all the seasoning ingredients with water. Set aside.
Shallow fry the vegetables
- Heat oil in a wok or skillet. Add the potato and fry over medium heat. Flip several times to lightly brown all sides. Then transfer the pieces to a wire rack or a plate lined with paper towels.
- Add the pepper next, and fry until its surface blisters. Remove it from the wok and drain over the rack.
- Turn the heat to high and add the eggplant. Fry until the surface turns slightly golden and crispy. Transfer out.
Stir-fry the dish
- Remove most of the oil from the wok, leaving just a thin layer. Add garlic and scallions. Leave to sizzle over low heat until fragrant.
- Stir the premixed sauce very well before pouring it into the wok. Swirl with a spatula right away as it thickens very quickly (see note 2).
- Put in all the vegetables. Toss to coat all pieces with the glossy sauce. Dish out and serve with steamed rice immediately.
Notes
Your Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Realmente delicioso
Cooked the egg plants, potatoes and pepper vegetables dish this evening. It was a very simple and easy to put together dish. The grand kids love this dish . As I do not have green pepper in my fridge, I added yellow capsicum. I also added some leftover minced meat from my previous dish. The dish was very yummy. Thumbs-up. Thanks Wei!
Thanks for trying my recipe, Laurine! Love how you made it your own with what you had on hand. So glad your grandkids enjoyed it too!
Love the flavor.
Great to hear that!
Hello Wei
I made this recipe again last night. This time I was missing the capsicum! Another look in the fridge gave me alternatives π
Re the taste: the recipients said “Yummy”! Hence my star rating.
Wonderful to know my recipe worked well with your twist of ingredients.
Eggplant season is arriving in my veggie garden.
It was really nice trying this recipe. Fast, economical and delicious.
How lovely to eat eggplant from your own garden! Have you tried my other recipes? Such as Steamed Eggplant, Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, and Plum Sauce Eggplant.
Thank you, so simple and delicious
So happy to hear that!
This looks exactly like the Di San Xian I had in China a few years ago! Can’t wait to give it a try.
I hope you’ll enjoy cooking and eating it!