Chinese Eggplant With Ground Pork

Succulent and juicy Chinese eggplant with minced pork smothered in a savoury spicy Sichuan sauce that’s packed full of flavour. This dish is quick and easy to make and is the ultimate comfort food!

What is Chinese Eggplant with Minced Pork?

Chinese eggplant with minced pork also known as 魚香茄子 in Cantonese is a famous Chinese dish originating from the Sichuan province in Southwestern China. Although the Chinese name implies that there is fish in the dish or at least the fragrant smell of fish (魚香), there actually isn’t any fish in the dish. Instead, it’s substituted with pork, although some people may opt to add in fish to the dish as well.

The dish is known for its flavourful soft pieces of Chinese eggplant that are stir-fried with minced pork in a slightly spicy flavourful umami sauce.

As a kid, I thought Chinese eggplants looked weird like a vegetable from outer space so I avoided eating them.

However, as I grew older and became more curious about trying different types of foods, I eventually learned to enjoy eating Chinese eggplants especially if it was paired with some type of meat protein such as stuffed Chinese eggplants or Chinese eggplants and minced pork. I’m sure there are a tonne of other Chinese eggplant recipes that I haven’t yet discovered but would also love.

Growing up, my parents would occasionally make fried eggplant with ground pork for dinner and there usually wouldn’t be any leftovers by the time dinner was over, the dish was that good!

And now that I’m all grown up, I’ve re-created the Chinese eggplant with ground pork recipe just like how my parents made it back in the day.

Here’s what you’ll need to make Chinese spicy eggplant with ground pork:

Ingredients

• Ground pork 175g
• Chinese Egg plant 1lb (454g)
• Green onion 1 stalk
• 1-2 tsp of minced ginger
• 3-4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1-2 Thai chili peppers (optional)

Sauce:

• 1 tsp Light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
• ½ tsp White granulated sugar
• 1 tsp White pepper
• 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp spicy broad bean paste (doubanjiang)
• ½ cup of water (add to wok)
• ½ Tbsp Shaoxing wine (added when stir-frying pork)

Pork marinade:

• 1 tsp Tapioca starch
• 1 tsp of White granulated sugar
• 1 tsp of Light soy sauce
• ½ tsp of White pepper
• ½ Tbsp of Cooking oil
• 1 Tbsp of Water

Cornstarch slurry:

• ½ cup of water
• 1-2 Tbsp of cornstarch

Garnish:

• Sesame oil

Ingredient Notes

• Chinese eggplants: Make sure that you’re using Chinese eggplants and not American eggplants or eggplants from another country such as Indian Eggplants. They taste different and will have varying degrees of bitterness.
• Ground pork: You can use either store-bought ground pork or your own freshly minced pork at home.
• Spicy broad bean paste (doubanjiang): This spicy broad bean paste adds a lot of flavour to the dish and should not be omitted unless you can’t eat spicy food. But don’t worry, once we’ve added everything in, you’ll hardly even taste any spiciness in the dish. The paste has a red colour to it and is quite salty if eaten by itself which we aren’t going to do obviously in our recipe. You will be able to buy doubanjiang quite easily at most Asian grocery stores in the sauce section.

How to Cook Chinese Eggplant With Minced Pork

For this Chinese eggplant with minced pork recipe, we’re going to do things the old-fashioned way and that means frying the eggplants. This gives the eggplant a unique texture when you bite into them. Now since eggplants tend to function like a sponge and soak up liquid quite easily, we aren’t going to fry it for too long (1-2 minutes max) to keep the oil to a minimum.

Here’s how to make Chinese eggplant with ground pork:

Preparing The Ingredients

1. Start by mincing your garlic and ginger and then set it aside.
2. Next cut your green onion stalk into tiny slivers about 1/8-1/4 inch wide and then separate the white and green parts of the green onion and set them aside.
3. Then prepare the sauce by combining the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and oyster sauce in a bowl and set it aside.
4. Next, we’re going to marinade our ground pork. In another bowl, combine your ground pork with the soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, and water. Mix everything well together then add in your tapioca starch and mix everything well together. Then finally add in your cooking oil to the pork mixture and mix it evenly with the ground pork. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to marinade for at least 15-20 minutes.

Frying The Eggplant

1. Now add oil to your wok and heat it up over medium heat.
2. While our oil is heating up, we’re going to prepare our eggplants for frying. Cut each piece of eggplant into 2-3 inch sections and then cut each section into quarters so you end up with 4 pieces per section. Once done, set the eggplant aside.

3. Your oil should be hot enough by this point. You can test this out by placing a chopstick into the oil and seeing if it sizzles. If it does, then the oil is hot enough.
4. Now fry the eggplants for no more than 1-2 minutes and then immediately remove them from the oil and let the eggplants drain on some paper towels.

Putting Everything Together

1. Pour out the hot oil and then heat the wok over medium low heat. Add back about 1 Tbsp of oil to the wok and let it heat up.
2. Once the oil is hot enough, add in your minced garlic and ginger, along with the white parts of the green onion that you cut earlier.

3. Let it cook for about 30 seconds to release all of the aromatics and then add your broad bean paste to the wok.
4. Stir-fry everything together in the wok for another 10-15 seconds and then add in your ground pork.
5. Spread the ground pork out on the wok and then add in your Shaoxing wine.
6. Now let the ground pork cook for about 1 minute on one side and then flip it over and let it cook on this side for another minute.

1. Once the ground pork starts to turn whitish in colour and is about 80% done, add in your eggplant to the wok.
2. Mix everything well together then add in your sauce.

1. Mix everything together then add in your water.
2. Turn the heat up to medium-high heat and stir-fry everything for about a minute and then add in your cornstarch slurry to the sauce by pushing the ground pork and eggplant to the side, exposing the sauce.
3. Mix the cornstarch and sauce well together which will thicken the sauce.
4. Now mix everything together for another 10 seconds or so and add in the green parts of the green onion from earlier.

1. Give it a few tosses and then drizzle in a little bit of sesame oil.
2. Turn the stove off and mix everything together for another 5-10 seconds and then remove everything from the wok and serve while hot.

What Can You Serve Chinese Eggplant With Minced Pork With?

Typically this Chinese eggplant with minced pork dish is eaten with white rice instead of as a standalone dish. It may also be served with other Chinese dishes as well such as bok choy stir-fry.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

• Your eggplants weren’t completely dry when you dumped them into the hot oil causing the hot oil to splash out, yikes! 😲
• Your fried eggplants came out very oily and soggy because the hot oil wasn’t hot enough when you were frying it and you also fried the eggplants for too long. Only fry for 1-2 minutes max!
• Your eggplants taste bitter and make you want to throw them out. Did you use regular egg plants instead of Chinese eggplants? They tend to be a lot more bitter. Don’t substitute Chinese eggplants with regular eggplants.

Storage Tips

You may store this eggplant with ground pork dish in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. If you don’t intend on eating it within that timeframe then you can also freeze the dish in a container for up to 2 months.

When you’re ready to eat the egg plants, just nuke them in a microwave and serve.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.S)

How Do I Pick Eggplants?

Look for ones that have firm skin and aren’t wrinkled. You should also avoid ones that have dark brown spots on the eggplant as well.

How Do I Prevent the Eggplants From Turning Brown After Cutting Them?

Save the cutting of the eggplants for the last step right before you fry them that way they won’t have much time to oxidize and turn brown. Likewise, if you choose to prep everything and want to cut up the eggplants beforehand then you can put the cut eggplant pieces in a large bowl of cold water and add a tsp of white vinegar to it to slow the oxidation process.

How Do I Prevent My Eggplants From Becoming Soggy and Oily When Frying Them?

The eggplant is like a sponge and tends to soak up liquid very easily. Therefore to remedy this issue you have 2 choices:

1. Make sure that you fry the eggplant at a hot enough temperature (medium heat ≈ 180°C) so that it doesn’t soak up nearly as much oil and also don’t fry the eggplants for too long (no more than 2 minutes). This should help reduce the amount of oil that the eggplant absorbs.

2. Soak the eggplant in an ice bath prior to frying.

Is This Dish Spicy?

No, not really. You can hardly taste much spiciness in the dish. If you want to make it more spicy then you can add in some Thai Chili peppers (Bird’s eye chili peppers).

How Do I Make This Dish Vegetarian?

Just omit the ground pork and voila, it’s vegetarian! 😎 You can also buy vegetarian gluten bits from an Asian grocery store and use that in place of the ground pork as well.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

• Cantonese Soy Sauce Chow Mein Noodles
• Chinese Green Beans With Minced Pork
• Long Bean Omelette