hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to deconstructing Chinese American classics with a shot at yet another item from the PF Chang’s menu, which is their stir fried Chinese eggplant. For those not familiar in this series, we have been taking menu items from iconically Americanized cuisine like PF Chang’s or Panda Express, then taking apart these recipes, and reassembling them through the lens of more traditional Chinese wok cooking. Not too long ago, we took a look at PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef, their Singapore Chicken, and a few others as well.
We’re going making use of some Chinese eggplant today, which is most notably longer and thinner than your more common globe eggplant found here in the states. They also have fewer seeds which makes them a little less bitter, and generally more appropriate for flash cooking like we do in a wok fry. Then we’ll also be pairing this with a “sweet chili soy glaze” as PF Chang’s describes it, which by my best assumption is referring to the use of sweet chili sauce for a sweet and spicy glaze. Then finally rounding this all out, i’m going to be making two creative additions to help bring this to life with some spicy black bean paste and Thai chiles, both of which should add some nice depth of flavor, umami, and complex heat that I personally think is absent in the PF Chang’s version of this dish. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
3 green onions
2 medium Chinese eggplants
4-6 Thai chiles
corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch + water)
peanut oil
water
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp sweet chile sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp spicy black bean paste
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SEPARATE the whites and greens of the green onions, then slice the whites thinly, and the greens on a bias, set aside
LARGE DICE the eggplants, set aside
SLICE the Thai chiles thinly, set aside
DISSOLVE 2 tbsp corn starch in water, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 1 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the eggplant and toss for 6-8 minutes, adding additional peanut oil in 1 tbsp quantities as needed
REMOVE the eggplant, reheat the wok as hot as possible, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic, ginger, and whites of the green onions and toss until fragrant for about 15 seconds
ADD the Thai chiles to the wok making sure they make contact with the wok surface, then toss to combine
ADD the eggplant back to the wok, followed by the sauce and 1/4 cup water, and toss to combine
ADD the corn starch slurry 1 tbsp at a time until desired sauce thickness is reached
REMOVE from heat and finish with greens of green onions