We love this Szechuan eggplant dish when we go to our favorite restaurant (Hans) in Chinatown. We usually go there when the wife is craving for some spicy food. We also like to go there whenever we have visitors.  So naturally, when my mother and aunt were here visiting from Thailand we decided to get them a taste of this delicious Szechuan food.

My aunt instantly loved it and started deconstructing it. The next week she decided to give a go at home. This recipe I am sharing today is what she taught me with her own added Thai elements. She owns and runs her own restaurant in Bangkok so this is a pretty darn good recipe. Even my wife who is not the biggest fan of eggplants loves this recipe. So I feel pretty confident in saying satisfaction is guaranteed 🙂 ENJOY

Ingredients

200 g of ground pork
1 Eggplant
2 tbsp of small dice ginger
1 tsp of Sichuan Peppercorns
2 Green onion
1 Clove of garlic (mince)
2 tbsp Spicy Chili sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp mushroom sauce
1.5 tbsp salted cooking wine
1 tsp black soy sauce
2 pinches of sugar

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Instructions

1. In a pot, heat up oil for deep frying eggplant. TIP: to check if oil is ready I use bamboo chopstick and dip it in the oil, if there are constant stream of bubbles, oil is ready.
2. I deep fry eggplant twice. Wait 1-2 minutes in between, this will allow the oil to heat up again. Frying them twice will make the eggplant brown quicker and it also prevents it from being overcooked.

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3. In a wok or large pan, drizzle some oil and turn the heat to medium high. Add in Ginger, Garlic, Sichuan pepper and cook until garlic and ginger are lightly brown.
4. Next, add ground pork, Spicy chili sauce, light soy sauce, mushroom sauce and sugar. Stir fry until pork is 80% cook, make sure the pork is broken up and separated and not lumped together.

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5. Add salted cooking wine around the edges of the wok or pan. stir fry until pork is completely cooked.
6. Next add Eggplant, green onion (set some aside for garnish) and black soy sauce. Stir until everything is evenly coated
7. Move to a plate and garnish with some green onion. Serve hot with warm jasmine rice.

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Items I use for this recipe