Hangzhou Aubergines

This is a delicious aubergine dish, goes really well with white fluffy rice, as part of a Chinese meal with a plate of green veggie stir-fry, a bowl of soup and a meat or egg dish. Though I would be happy with just this one dish alone with hot fluffy rice.

There's quite an amount of oil used in the recipe, to fry the sliced aubergines. I use only about half a cup of oil, enough to fry one side of the aubergines, then I turned the aubergines to fry on the other side. This way there's no need to use so much of oil for deep-frying. Be sure to drain the fried aubergines on kitchen paper to absorb all the excess oil. I have doubled the amount of minced pork, and added a little more of the fermented sauce, and soy sauce. Taste as you cook, to your liking.

This is not a new dish to me, as it is really a dish that can be found quite commonly in Chinese restaurants over here, and one of our favourites. But it is interesting to see how the same dish is being cooked in another part of the world. A delicious dish that I will definitely be cooking again in my kitchen.

Hangzhou Aubergines
(Every Grain Of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop)
400gm aubergines
salt
cooking oil, for deep-frying (350ml) will do
50-75gm minced pork, ideally with a little fat
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp sweet fermented sauce
2 tbsp stock
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/4 tsp potato flour mixed with 2 tsp cold water
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens

Cut the aubergines lengthways into 2cm slices, then cut the slices into 2cm strips. Cut these into 5-6cm lengths. Sprinkle with a little salt, mix well and leave in a colander to drain for 30 minutes or so.

Heat the oil for deep-frying to 180-200C. Shake the aubergines dry and deep-fry, in  a couple of batches, until slightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on kitchen paper.

Drain off the deep-frying oil, rinse the wok if necessary, then return it to a high flame. When the wok is hot again, add 1-2 tbsp oil, swirl it around, then add the pork and stir-fry over a medium flame until the meat has lost its pinkness and the oil has cleared again. Add the ginger and stir to release its fragrance, Add the fermented sauce and stir until it smells delicious, too. Add the stock, Shaoxing wine, soy sauces and sugar, return the aubergines, and mix well.
Toss the aubergines in the sauce, then give the potato flour mixture a stir and pour it into the centre of the wok, moving briskly to stir it in. Add the spring onions, stir a few times, then serve.