Spicy Shredded Eggplant & Mushroom

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Yields: 2 Servings Difficulty: Easy Prep Time: 5 Mins Cook Time: 10 Mins Total Time: 15 Mins

This is a quick and easy side dish that is super flavourful. Thinly shredded red onion, eggplant, and oyster mushrooms are fried in a hot pan until wilted, then tossed in a flavourful Chinese street-side BBQ style sauce. Instead of cooking the spices in the pan, we simply scald them with smoking hot oil. The result is a super delicious explosion of flavours and textures (soft vs firm vs crunchy).

In Chinese, we call this a 下酒菜 (xia jiu cai), which means a dish that you snack on while drinking. There are a few basic requirements for such a drink-compatible dish. One: It has to be full-on with flavour, so you can still taste it with alcohol-destroyed taste buds. And it usually makes you drink more. Two: It has to taste fine hot or cold, so you can sing ten songs on the karaoke before you start eating, or snack on it over two hours. Three: It can have sauce, but not so much that it will drip on your body and make you look more dishevelled than you do.

For those who very seldom drink—like me—this is also a good side dish for plain Teochew porridge or a plain noodle soup. Or if you are on a tight budget—also like me—then this will help you destroy a massive amount of rice. I’ve also had this as a super amazing filling for tortilla wraps. Totally worth the very limited effort!

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Ingredients

0/14 Ingredients
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  • Spices

Instructions

0/8 Instructions
  • Shred the oyster mushroom and eggplant. I did the mushrooms by hand and the eggplant with a knife. Slice the onion. Put all the spices in a ceramic or glass heat-proof bowl.
  • Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan until smoking hot.
  • Pour the smoking hot oil over the spices. Listen to them go piak piak piak!
  • Add 0.5 tbsp of vegan oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of soy sauce to bowl and mix well.
  • Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium heat and toss the onions, eggplant, and oyster mushrooms in. Mix them around and they will absorb all the oil.
  • Once softened, cover with a lid. You will hear the vegetables complaining and making frying sounds, just ignore them. After about 2-3 minutes, uncover and they should have a nice brown char.
  • Add 2 tbsp of the sauce you made and stir to mix well. Taste and add more of the sauce to your taste.
  • Serve hot or cool.

Tags

#chilli  #eggplant  #mushrooms  

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