Eggplant with Minced Pork (Mābō Eggplant) is a twist on my recipe, Mābōdōfu. The fried eggplant wedges replace the tofu cubes, giving a richer flavour to the dish and a completely different texture from that of Mābōdōfu. The beautiful deep purple of the eggplant skin stimulates your appetite.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted, and this recipe, so you can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 350g / 0.8lb eggplant cut into bite-size wedges (note 1)
- 1½ tbsp cornflour/corn starch (note 2)
- Oil to shallow-fry eggplants
- 200g / 7.1oz pork mince/ground pork
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp garlic finely minced
- 2 tsp ginger finely minced
- 3 tbsp shallots/scallions finely sliced
- 3 tsp toban-djan (chilli bean paste)
- A pinch of salt
- 180ml / 6.1oz water (note 3)
- 2 tsp chicken stock powder (note 3)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cooking sake
- 2 tsp brown miso
- 1 tbsp cornflour/corn starch
- Finely chopped shallots/scallions
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Mix the Sauce ingredients well ensuring that the sugar is dissolved and there are no lumps of miso or cornflour.
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Fill a frying pan with oil to 1cm / ⅜” deep. Heat the oil to around 170°C / 338°F.
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While heating the oil, dust the eggplant pieces with cornflour/corn starch.
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Gently drop the eggplant pieces into the oil (fry in batches if needed so that the oil is not overcrowded).
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Fry for 1½ minutes until the bottom part of the eggplant pieces are slightly browned (see the photo in the post).
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Turn them over and fry further 1 minute, then place the eggplant skin side down and fry for 30 seconds (note 4). The eggplant pieces should be slightly browned.
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Transfer the eggplant pieces onto a tray lined with a couple of kitchen papers.
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Heat a wok or a deep frypan over high heat. When smoke starts rising, add 1 tablespoon oil, then add pork mince.
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Stir-fry the mince, breaking up the lumps until the mince is cooked through (about 2 minutes).
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Add the remaining Chilli Pork Mince ingredients and stir-fry for 15-30 seconds, ensuring that all ingredients are mixed well.
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Add all the Sauce ingredients to the mince and mix lightly. When the sauce starts thickening, add the eggplants and gently mix.
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When the sauce starts boiling, turn the heat off. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle shallots over. Serve immediately.
1. I used a large eggplant. I cut it vertically into 6 wedges, then cut them perpendicular to the first cut, into the bite-size pieces.
You can use skinny/small eggplants if you want. In this case, you may only halve or quarter them vertically depending on the thickness of the eggplants.
2. You can omit cornflour coating of the eggplant pieces if you want. But cornflour-coated eggplants are juicier and moist.
3. You can substitute with 180ml / 6.1oz of chicken broth.
4. I did cook the eggplant pieces with the skin-side down at the end because I used a large eggplant and its skin is quite hard. If you are using skinny/small eggplant, you probably needn’t do this.
5. Eggplant with Minced Pork (Mābō Eggplant) can keep a day or two in the fridge but the colour of the eggplant skin may become less vibrant.
6. Nutrition pr serving. Assumed that eggplant's oil absorption % is about 12%.
serving: 228g calories: 324kcal fat: 25g (38%) saturated fat: 4.9g (25%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 3.5g monounsaturated fat: 15g cholesterol: 36mg (12%) sodium: 424mg (18%) potassium: 437mg (12%) carbohydrates: 15g (5%) dietary fibre: 3.6g (14%) sugar: 7.3g protein: 11g vitamin a: 1% vitamin c: 5.7% calcium: 2% iron: 6%