Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

After all these healthy recipes for making Chinese food at home are you still craving that saucy, garlicky, spicy eggplant dish found in most Chinese restaurants? The one that is called “eggplant in garlic sauce,” “eggplant Sichuan/Szechwan style” or some such?

Before you run out and indulge, consider the nutritional content of this dish when prepared in restaurants: Both WebMD and Nutrition Action put Eggplant in Garlic Sauce down for 1000 calories and 2000 mg sodium for a dinner-size dish of the stuff! Yes, but you’d share that plate, right? At Panda Express, the Eggplant and Tofu in Garlic Sauce will set you back 180 calories and 690 mg sodium for one 5.5 oz serving. That’s a lot of calories for a vegetable and approximately 30% of the sodium recommended for an average HEALTHY adult to take in daily.

Try making this at home in a healthier fashion and you’ll be just as satisfied! I’ve changed the cooking method from shallow-frying the eggplant to steaming it – this not only eliminates the fat it absorbs, but it also makes the preparation much faster and less labor-intensive. To make it even healthier, you can leave out the sesame oil and use low-sodium soy sauce and water in place of the broth, although you will lose some of the authentic flavor that way.

ingredients:

• 1 lb eggplant – Japanese, Chinese, globe…they’ll all work.
• 2 tsp vinegar – Chinkiang is nice, but rice wine or cider will substitute nicely.

sauce:

• 3 cloves garlic, smacked, then cut into small chunks
• 1 T ginger root, peeled and minced
• 1 T hot chili sauce, Sichuan if you can find it or Sriracha
• 2 T soy sauce – if you have light and dark, use 1 of each.
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/3 c broth (low-sodium if canned) or water

thickener:

• 2 tsp cornstarch or tapioca flour
• 2 T water

garnish:

• 1 scallion, minced
• 1 tsp sesame oil

method:

1. If you are using a rounder eggplant, cut it into 2″ cubes. You can cut long, skinny Japanese and Chinese eggplants into 1″ thick rounds, or you can roll cut.
2. Place the eggplant in a heatproof dish and steam until tender, approximately 10-20 m, but not too soft – a knife should easily pierce it but not mush it in the process.
3. Combine the thickener ingredients and set aside.
4. Combine the sauce ingredients in a wok and bring to a rolling boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 m, uncovered.
5. Add the eggplant and vinegar and stir gently from the bottom to coat with the sauce.
6. Heat through, then add the thickener, still stirring very gently. Cook 1-2 m to get rid of the starchy taste.
7. Slide onto a serving plate and garnish with scallion and sesame oil.

variations:

This sauce can be used to cook tofu – just cube firm beancurd up and replace some or all of the eggplant with it. For some texture variation, you can add sliced bamboo shoots or water chestnuts.

nutritional data:

I am assuming that this dish will serve 4 as part of a multi-dish meal. These figures are based on the recipe being made with water (not broth) and 1 T each of the light and dark soy sauces. You’ll see the sodium is very hard to reduce, but serve with plenty of brown rice and a vegetable dish not made with soy sauce, and things can balance out.

• Total calories 63, calories from fat 12
• Total fat 1 g, saturated fat 0 g
• Cholesterol 0 mg
• Sodium 556 mg
• Total carbs 12 g, dietary fiber 4 g, sugars 5 g
• Protein 2 g