Chinese eggplant recipe—Spicy cold salad.
Eggplant is one of the treasure purple food that loved by Chinese people. And it tastes really good no matter in salad, stir-fries or braising recipes. If you love restaurant Chinese food or take out, you may see eggplant in hot garlic sauce on many menus. That’s one of the most popular eggplant recipes in Sichuan cuisine known as Yu Xiang Eggplant in Chinese.
This eggplant recipe I introduced today is requested by reader Christine about a cold eggplant salad served with a stick. Yes, in restaurants, this dish usually is served with a server similar to garlic presser and a stick. In Chinese, we call this as Leibo Eggplant which means eggplant salad served in Leibo. So you can mash the eggplant and soak them in the sauce for a better absorptio. This is for some fun during the dinner. However if you do not have that server like me, you can also enjoy this recipe.
Firstly, check the ingredients, I am using long green chili pepper known as Line pepper in China. Those peppers can be replaced by cayenne peppers. You need to cut them into small circles or dices. But be careful with your hand during the process.
For the eggplants, I am using long purple eggplants. Steaming is highly recommended in order to keep the color mostly.
After steaming, cool the eggplants down and cut into small strips. Lay in your serving bowl. Stir fry the pepper and garlic and make the sauce.
For a much spicier taste, just stir fry around half of your peppers and keep the rest fresh. For a milder taste, fry your peppers for a longer time to reduce the spiciness.
Pour the sauce over your eggplants. And soak them for around 10 minutes before serving. Each time before eating the eggplant, re-soak it in the sauce.
- 2 long eggplants
- 4 to 8 fresh long chili peppers , cut into small circles
- 1 red long chili pepper or 2 Thai chili peppers , cut into small circles
- 3 garlic cloves , mashed
- 1 small bunch coriander , finely chopped (leave some leaves for decoration)
- 1 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 tsp. black vinegar
- 1 tsp. salt or as needed
- 3 tbsp. boiled warm water
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Cut the two ends of the eggplants and then into sections around 8 to 10 cm long.
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Set up the steamer and steam the eggplant for around 15 minutes or until soft (you can easily insert a chop sticker inside).
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Transfer out after cooling down and cut the eggplant into strips and lay the strips one by one on the serving bowl. I am using chopstickers.
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Prepare a pan, heat up around 1 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil. Add red peppers and red peppers in to stir fry for around 1 minute over medium fire or until they become slightly soft. Add mashed garlic to fry for around 1 minute.
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Transfer all the content in the pan to your sauce bowl.
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Add other ingredients for the sauce and mix well. Garnish chopped coriander. Pour the sauce over the serving bowl, set aside so the eggplant can be soaked in the sauce for around 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
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Decorate with coriander leaves before serving.
hello good to visit your beautiful website.
weather i did not know you are a sicuanese or expert of foreigner about sicuan cuisine haha.
i am cooker that i study sicuan cuisine at new east cuisine school at chengdou.
may i know where you are and are you chinese?
Hi there,
I grown up in Sichuan province and cook from home.
oh good parents you have!
haha , i have read many comments on this website there are many foreigner being hot interesting about sicuan cuisine.
maybe you are very busy everyday to answer different kind of questions.
i know your website from flickr, did you also have account on this one?
Great recipe and beautiful photos! I really love eggplants and get to make this soon! Love the way that you presented the dish 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Maggie. Eggplant is my favorite vegetable too.
What a delicious way to use eggplant! I love asian flavours and definitely will be making this recipe… thanks for sharing it!
Thanks Thalia,
Happy cooking ahead.
This is absolutely gorgeous! I love those beautiful colors. Eggplant is one of our favorites. Can’t wait to try this!
Thanks Caroline for stopping by and commenting. Eggplant is really an awesome vegetable to me too. Happy cooking ahead.
This looks scrumptious! However, I’m not sure where to find black vinegar. Do you have a suggestion for a substitution ? Thank you!
Debra,
Thanks for the kind words.
Black vinegar usually available in Asian market or you can find it on Amazon. I believe. However if it is really time-consuming, you can use cider vinegar instead.
I never really liked eggplant that much…until I moved to China. Eggplants dishes are almost always great here. I don’t know why it tastes so much better in China (except ratatouille – which is amazing). I’ll be trying this recipe on Wednesday. I’m excited and keep the eggplant recipes coming!
Haha,
I agree that eggplant is really excellent in Chinese cuisine. I love it very much too.
Thanks, Elaine! This was delicious! And, so quick to make. The only changes I made was to slice the eggplant into batons and steam in the microwave with plastic wrap ( 3 minutes) and to use Italian balsamic vinegar instead of black vinegar (the flavor profile is similar). You are very talented.
I will definitely make this recipe again!
Thanks Denny for the lovely feedback and kindly warm words. It is one of the most easiest eggplant salad I enjoyed a lot daily. Happy cooking ahead!
Hi Elaine.
Love your recipes and have tried many of them. Thank you. Do you do all
the photography for the website? The photographs are amazing; really convey the
essence of the dishes. Any tips for me, who want to photograph products? Thank you
in advance.
Hi Sharon,
Yes, I took all the pictures of this blog. Thanks for your kind word but I think I am still not a photography yet. If you want to take pictures of products, know more about the features and how you want to present it. I only shoot in natural light so am really sorry I know little about the still life product photography.
Can I make this 1 day earlier? If so, do i steam and refrigerate the eggplant and then just leave the sauce until serving? I have a big party and want to prep this and not steam the same night. Thank you!
Hi Tammy,
Making this in previous day is not recommended, as the taste of the eggplants might change along with the time. But if you really need to do so, it would be a nice idea to taste with a small amount firstly. After steaming, cover the eggplants with plastic wrapper to avoid drying out.
This is the third of your recipes I’ve tried, and again it was delicious. Unlike some websites, all your recipes work perfectly. And unlike some websites, your food is authentic and non-westernised. Today I try making biang biang noodles. Wish me luck!
Just made this. So easy and beautiful.
Thanks Ed. Be happy in eggplant season.
Looks beautiful and delicious!