- 1/4 cup peanut oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
- 1 cup sliced shitake caps (reserve stems for stock or discard) [I know Mark Bittman doesn't like dried Chinese mushrooms, but they've been a favorite of mine since I was a child so....]
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger (optional)
- 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks, and salted, rinsed and dried if you like [Before executing the dish, I was considering getting Chinese takeout since I was starving so bad... In any case, I didn't go through the whole process of correcting preparing eggplant.]
- 1 tablespoon Chile Paste, or to taste (optional) [Let's just go ahead and double that shit.]
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water [I used a 1/2 cup of the mushroom-soaking water and then threw boxed chicken stock in there as I seem to do.]
- 2 tablespoons soy sayce
- 1 pound tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubs
- 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil for garnish (optional)
- Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish (optional) [I do have cilantro on hand at the moment, but we're not talking Southeast Asian food here.]
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds for garnish (optional) [I suppose this would've been nice, but I didn't think to do it.]
- 2 tablespoons minced scallion for garnish (optional)
Mise en place.
Shitake mushrooms over medium high in 2 tablespoons peanut oil.
Fried to a crisp. Which isn't how I usually like them.
Lift the mushrooms out with a slotted spoon and add the rest of the oil and the ginger, garlic, and eggplant.
Fry until charred.
Add the chili paste and liquid.
Cook until eggplant is tender. Bittman said I wouldn't need extra liquid but with the pan at medium-high and so little liquid... I added boxed chicken broth.
Add soy sauce and tofu and heat through. Stirring the mushrooms at the end.
At some point I though, "Whoa, I'm basically cooking in the same style of food that I ate growing up more or less every day." Even if my mom never crisp-fried shitakes to my knowledge.
The people at work thought it smelled amazing, but rarely do I encounter a recipe that's truly my thing.
Didn't become a fan of cooking shitakes in this way.
i consider my self pretty good with the spicy, but your photos make the sauce look about 90% chili paste. Yikes. I put in one big teaspoon and that was about all I could handle, but it didn't take on that nice red color. I've made this twice and it came out pretty good each time, though not really with the same consistency I've gotten from similar dishes in Thai and Chinese restaurants. I think I keep chickening out and putting in too much liquid, where this really wants to be a pretty dry dish. Still, one of the better things I've done with eggplant in a while and helped me to get over my fear of just throwing raw tofu into a saucy pan (the fried stuff always sounds like a good idea but it never soaks up any flavor).
ReplyDeleteWell, let me know when you try this again with less liquid. I don't cook a ton of eggplant (eggplant parmesan is an arduous recipe), but I think I remember liking this one okay. What other better recipes do you have for eggplant? Perhaps another thing from HCEV
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