Eggplant or aubergine (more commonly called in Europe) is now officially my husband's fav vegie. But ... according toanswers.com, tho' commonly thought of as a vegie, eggplant/aubergine is actually a fruit (a berry, specifically). Ummm... vegie or fruit, my husband just loooves eggplant dishes these days!!
This is the eggplant/aubergine dish I made that he begins to, helplessly, fall in love with Miss Aubergine (Mmmm... I think Miss Aubergine sounds better and more feminine than Miss Eggplant =)). I made the same dish again 2wks ago ... without any surprises, Miss Aubergine received the same reception from my husband like the first time they met - full attention & attraction, tender, loving, care ... ahhh... my eyes were turning greener and greener that they can spike anything or anyone for that matter with the green ray!!
HOLD ON!!! Something is not right here!! Why the heck am I envy a vegie (or fruit rather) for? I'm not that desperate, am I? Am I?
OK OK OK ... enough with the envious emotion. Here's the recipe to the irresistible Miss Aubergine (at least to my husband it is, hehehe...)
Ingredients: aubergine/eggplant, in cubes garlic, finely chopped but not minced ginger, thinnly sliced pork slices (season with pepper powder+lite soy sauce+cornflour)
Sauce: oyster sauce+soy sauce+chilli bean sauce+sugar, mixed well
Methods: 1. Giving oil treatment to the eggplant cubes. Meaning lightly panfried the eggplant. It has a spongelike capacity to soak up the oil, so don't be alarm if the eggplant seems to just soak up the amount of cooking oil you've added. Once it's cooked (became soft and color changed to light brown), it'll "spit" out all the oil. 2. Add garlic and ginger to your pan (no need to add cooking oil as the pan should be well coated from (1)), til slightly browned. 3. Stir in the pork slices, cook for ~1min, then add the cooked eggplant and the sauce into the pan. Keep stirring so all the eggplant and pork slices are well coated with the sauce. 4. Cook for another ~5mins, keep stirring, before dishing up. 5. Garnish with spring onions.
** This dish goes really well with steamed rice. Give it a go!!
Ahhh... isn't this a nice platter of appetizers? =)
Ok... this is how I did it.
1. Dig out pictures of your fav appetizers. To have a colourful platter, make sure you have a mixture of colour. 2. Chopped them up in cubes. Make sure they are of same size for an equal time of cooking, plus it gives a nice presentation too. 3. Arrange them on your favourite sampler plate with a formation of 3x4 or smaller or bigger, whatever that you fancy, really. 4. Voi·là!! Enjoy with a glass of red wine. Or... if you're like me, pour a glass of white to go with that gigantic platter that you just created. =))