Pan Fried Eggplant with Ground Pork

Pan Fried Eggplant with Ground Pork 

A delicious and rich eggplant stir fry using ground pork and hot jalapeno pepper, great with plain steamed rice. Pan frying the eggplant makes it very tender and soft, it blends beautifully with the ground pork bits.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. eggplant
• 2 green onion
• 2 jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 lb. plain ground pork
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 tablespoon canola oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4

Cooking Steps

Prepare the Eggplant
1. Rinse clean 1 lb. eggplant using running water. The eggplant shown in the picture below is available in Chinese grocery store. Other varieties will work well too.

2. Remove the skin from the eggplant, cut into 2 inch long 1 inch wide thin slices.

Tip: Eggplant does not stay fresh very long in fridge. So plan to consume it as soon as possible, preferably within 1-3 days after purchase. Most of the times, having a little bit planning goes a long way to Cut Food Bill and Save Our Planet.


3. Submerge the slices into water. Let them sit for about 5 minutes to absorb moisture.

4. Take the slices out of water, add 2 table spoon corn starch, shake the eggplant slices well to be evenly covered by corn starch.

5. Heat a non sticky wok with 3 table spoon cooking oil. Add eggplant slices evenly on the wok, no overlaps, turn heat to medium, cover the wok. Let each side cook about 3-4 minutes or until they turn golden brown. Take them out.

Stir Fry the Ground Pork and Eggplant
6. Add to wok 1 chopped green onion, 1 clove of minced garlic, a few slices ginger, add 2 chopped jalapeno peppers if desired, add 1/2 lb. ground pork, stir evenly for 5 minutes to fully cook the meat.
7. Add the pan fried eggplant pieces back to the wok, add 2 table spoon soy sauce, 1 table spoon sugar, stir all ingredients evenly, turn heat to medium, cover, let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until all ingredients are fully cooked. Serve with rice.

Secret of Success
Adding corn starch to the eggplant slices and pan frying them will keep the moisture inside and make the eggplant very tender and soft. The corn starch will also prevent the final dish looking watery.

Tip:
Ground pork is a very handy ingredients in my kitchen. It can make awesome meatballs, or complement vegetable as dumpling filling.