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    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Chinese Eggplants with Garlic Sauce

    Last Modified: May 10, 2020 by Elaine| 20 Comments

    2.9K shares
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    Eggplant is the most popular vegetable in autumn. When well-cooked, it can taste even better than meats.There are various ways of cooking eggplant in China, but braising and steaming might be the top two popular ones. Sometimes, we marinate summer tender eggplants.

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    Braised eggplants with garlic sauce is my favorite method of making eggplants in this autumn, using very basic seasonings and producing a well balanced dish with strong garlic aroma. There is another popular Chinese eggplant dish named as “Yu Xiang Eggplants”, which is named “Chinese eggplants in spicy garlic sauce”. That’s a completely different versions.

    Though eggplants can be extremely delicious, they are not liked by every house wife cook as they are hard to handle and need lots of oil. I have been trying to search ways to reduce oil absorbed by the eggplants. The final solution is to soak the eggplants in slightly salty water and let them to absorb the water as much as possible. The water contained in the eggplants can help to accelerate the cooking process and make the eggplants much softer.

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    Coating eggplants with cornstarch might be another effective method, as the cornstarch will form a perfecting outside shell. But the eggplants lose the soft and sticky texture if cornstarch is adopted.

    Before we start to make this garlicky eggplants, please note that the oil used for cook the eggplants is not the oil amount you will take in. When the eggplant bites are cooked until soft, they will release the oil and you can save the oil for vegetable stir fries. So you can absolutely speed up the frying process by using more oil to cover the eggplants.  Authentic Chinese table has a different philosophy from western cuisine. We do not emphasize on single dish but the whole table. When this dish is oily, we usually match simple and light soups (tofu soup with Bok Choy) or stir fries to balance the nutrition.

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    Ingredients

    • 2 long tender Asian eggplants
    • pinch of salt for salty water
    • 3 tbsp. cooking oil + ½ tbsp. if needed
    • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 green pepper, cut into small pieces
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • ½ teaspoon sugar
    • 1 tsp. salt or to taste

    Steps: 

    Cut the eggplants into one bite size. Throw them in a large pot with water, add pinch of salt and marinate with a weight for 10 minutes. Transfer out and drain slightly (do not over dry, just pick the eggplants up).

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    At the mean time, heat up wok and 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the eggplants in wok and fry over middle fire. Stir from time to time but do not move the eggplants frequently. When they are softened, transfer the eggplants out and keep some oil for frying the garlic.  Less oil stir-frying may take longer time. If you want to speed up the process, use ⅓ cup of oil and deep-fry those eggplants bites.

    Eggplant with garlic| chinasichuanfood.com

    If there is no oil left, add around ½ tablespoon of oil. Add garlic in, heat over slow fire until aromatic.

    Eggplant with garlic|chinasichuanfood.com

    Add green peppers and return the eggplants, add light soy sauce and sugar. And sprinkle salt at the last.

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

    Chinese Eggplants with Garlic Sauce

    Elaine
    Chinese style braised eggplants with garlic sauce--蒜香茄子
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 15 mins
    Total Time 25 mins
    Course stir fry
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 2
    Calories 213 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 long tender Asian eggplants
    • pinch of salt for salty water
    • 3 tbsp. cooking oil + ½ tbsp. if needed
    • 3-4 cloves garlic ,minced
    • 1 green pepper ,cut into small pieces
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • ½ tsp. sugar
    • 1 tsp. salt or to taste

    Instructions

    • Cut the eggplants into one bite size. Throw them in a large pot with water, add pinch of salt and marinate with a weight for 10 minutes. Transfer out and drain slightly (do not over dry, just pick the eggplants up).
    • At the mean time, heat up wok and 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the eggplants in wok and fry over middle fire. Stir from time to time but do not move the eggplants frequently. When they are softened, transfer the eggplants out and keep some oil for frying the garlic.
    • If there is no oil left, add around ½ tablespoon of oil. Add garlic in, heat over slow fire until aromatic.Add garlic in, heat over slow fire until aromatic.
    • Add green peppers and return the eggplants, add light soy sauce and sugar. And sprinkle salt at the last.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 213kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 1gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1368mgPotassium: 18mgSugar: 1gVitamin A: 30IUVitamin C: 7.4mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 0.2mg
    Keyword Eggplant, Garlic Sauce
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood

    Eggplant with garlic sauce| chinasichuanfood.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Frank

      October 29, 2017 at 8:51 pm

      This looks divine! Indeed, this is the second Chinese eggplant recipe I've seen today. Interesting that it is considered an autumn vegetable in China. In Italy (and elsewhere I think) it is a summer vegetable. Either way, it's one of my favorite veggies!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        October 30, 2017 at 9:03 am

        We have summer eggplants too. They are quite popular in those two seasons.

        Reply
    2. Ferdinand Tessadri

      November 08, 2017 at 5:24 am

      Here in Italy we are fond of eggplants. But i don't like them cooked in a lot of oil, so we cook them on the grill, and add oil and sauces only for the final step in the pan.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        November 08, 2017 at 9:22 am

        That's a wonderful method. We love to roast and grill the eggplants too. Sometimes, we marinate eggplants with salt for 10-15 minutes until withered before mixing with the sauces.

        Reply
    3. Jenna

      December 02, 2017 at 1:49 pm

      Yum! I agree that eggplant can be yummier than meat. Especially when prepared like this.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        December 03, 2017 at 9:23 am

        Two hands up agree.

        Reply
    4. Vickie

      February 25, 2018 at 11:27 am

      5 stars
      Made this tonight for some friends. Everyone loved it!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 25, 2018 at 11:30 am

        Thanks!

        Reply
    5. Jim

      July 24, 2018 at 12:32 am

      5 stars
      Hi Elaine, I cannot eat peppers, will sub baby bok choy, do you think that will be suitable.
      Have made Szechuan eggplant and really enjoy it.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        July 24, 2018 at 7:23 am

        Jim,
        If you cannot eat peppers, I would suggest using scallion to enrich the flavor instead of bok choy.

        Reply
    6. Roxana

      January 17, 2019 at 8:50 am

      5 stars
      I just made this! It s delicious!!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 17, 2019 at 9:28 am

        Thank you!

        Reply
    7. Troy

      July 27, 2019 at 5:21 pm

      My pregnant partner loved it. Had two packets of wings. I did not put any salt in. Fantastic quick recipe.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        July 31, 2019 at 7:41 am

        Thank you, Troy.

        Reply
    8. Cristina

      March 19, 2020 at 9:23 am

      5 stars
      Made this tonight: Turned out great! I also don’t love the fact that eggplant usually becomes oily so this worked out great. I only needed a little bit of oil at the beginning to cook the eggplant and then a little more for the garlic. I didn’t have a wok so I used a pot and covered it. I wouldn’t have believed it unless I had seen it myself: on med/ high heat the eggplant softened really nicely and I would shake the whole pot rather than stirring and it didn’t burn but cooked through and got nice and brown. Do keep an eye on it b/c it can burn.
      I added rice, of course and it was muy delicioso. Thank you!!! (Oh i just realized I didn’t add the sugar or the salt, until the end but it was still wonderful.)

      Reply
      • Elaine

        March 22, 2020 at 8:19 pm

        Cristina,
        Thanks for your feedback!! Cooking eggplants with less oil is more healthy but only requires a little bit patience and time. Happy cooking!

        Reply
    9. Lizeth Palma Cuesta

      April 14, 2020 at 12:05 am

      5 stars
      I made this recipe and all my family loved it! I will be making it whenever we have eggplant again so thank you for the wonderful recipe!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        April 14, 2020 at 8:14 am

        Thanks Lizeth for the feedback. This is on my top list too because it is very easy to make with limited ingredients.

        Reply
    10. Chris

      January 26, 2021 at 12:01 am

      5 stars
      We just made this and it's delicious! Thank you! We added some vegetarian oyster sauce at the end and it was as good as food in a restaurant.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 31, 2021 at 10:14 pm

        Thanks for your lovely feedback Chris. I am happy to know you love it.

        Reply

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