Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant is a delicious chinese style stir fry dish, so amazingly rich in flavour! Perfect served with steamed rice. The star of this dish is the juicy Chinese Eggplant. Let’s start cooking!
Watch How To Make Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant – Recipe Video
Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant is a dish so rich in flavour, perfect to be served with hot steamed rice. The star of this dish is the tender and juicy Chinese Eggplant (also known as Qie Zi 茄子 / 矮瓜). The fried eggplant is crispy on the outside and buttery smooth on the inside, a small bite of it goes a long way.
This restaurant-style chinese stir fry dish is yummy and extremely easy to prepare at home, making it an ideal dish for all eggplant lovers. This dish is also very versatile as it can be made vegan, using vegetarian mushroom sauce instead of oyster sauce.
What is Chinese Eggplant
Basically there are two types of eggplants, the regular American Eggplant and the Chinese Eggplant. Chinese Eggplant is aso known as Oriental Charm and Pingtung Long. It inherently has fewer seeds than Western eggplant varieties making them less bitter and meatier.
Chinese eggplant is popularly used in stir-fry dishes and will hold its shape better when cooked. They are long and thin, averaging 15-20 centimetres in length and 5 centimetres in diameter. These fruits can be crooked or straight, and its thin outer skin ranges from violet to bright purple.
How To Choose Chinese Eggplant
Choose Chinese Eggplant that is taut, shiny and has smooth skin. When pressed on it lightly, it should feel slightly firm. A green stem indicates a fresh eggplant while a dark brown stem means it was harvested a while ago. Shriveled skin on eggplant is another sign that the eggplant is old and the older it is the more bitter it will taste.
Extra large eggplant also taste more bitter as they tend to have more seeds. It may be tempting to pick the largest and chunkiest eggplant, but it’s better off choosing ones that are small to medium size. Also look out for bruising or discolouration (brown and yellow patches). If the eggplant feels soft when you press on it, the flesh is probably damaged beneath the skin.
Ingredients You Need To Make Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant
- Eggplant
- Dried Shrimp
- Garlic (chopped)
- Red Chilli (diced)
- Spring Onions (diced)
- Cooking Oil
- Oyster Sauce
- Fish Sauce
- Sugar
- Water
Prepare Ingredients:
- Cut eggplant into thick strips. Coat with prepared seasoned flour. Set aside for later use.
- Soak dried shrimp till soft and briefly minced.
- Chop garlic,
- Dice red chilli and spring onions.
Cooking Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant:
- Heat up oil in wok and deep fry coated eggplant till golden brown and crispy. Remove the fried eggplant and drain on paper towel.
- In the same wok sauce minced dried shrimp and chopped garlic till fragrant. Then add in seasonings. Stir well.
- Then add in fried eggplant and fold gently with a spatula to distribute the sauce.
- Garnish with diced red onions and chopped spring onions. Toss to mix well before serving.
How to Serve Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant:
Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant is perfect served with steamed rice. Enjoy this as a dish on its own or with other accompaniment dishes.
Important Tips When Cooking Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant:
- Choose Chinese eggplants that are small to medium size which have smooth and taut vibrant purple skin.
- Choose Chinese eggplants variants that are long and thin instead of wide and round.
- Avoid wrinkled Chinese eggplants which may be dried out or old.
- When you’re ready to start deep frying, heat a few inches of oil in a pot/wok with high sides and a heavy base. A thick base helps the oil heat evenly and high sides prevent oil from bubbling over.
- Make sure the oil stays around the same temperature throughout the cooking process.
- Fry the eggplant in small batches to maintain the high temperature, turning the pieces after about 1 minute so they cook evenly.
- Do not overfry. Fry till the exterior of eggplant turns slightly golden .
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Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant 油炸香脆茄子
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Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 500 grams eggplant, chinese variant
- 2 tbsp dried prawns, soaked, chopped
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp diced red chilli
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onions
- 2 cups cooking oil, deep frying
Seasonings:
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp water
Have ready all ingredients for the dish.
First, wash the eggplants before cutting. Then remove the stem of eggplants. Next, cut into 2 inch pieces. Then cut each piece into 4 smaller pieces. Then set aside for later use.
Soak dried shrimp till soft and then minced briefly. Dice spring onion and red chillies. Also mince the garlic.
Have ready the flour ingredients to coat eggplant. Mix well cornflour, plain flour, salt and ground white pepper in a large bowl. Coat the cut eggplant with the season flour. Place the coated eggplant on a plate and we are ready to cook the dish.
Before we start to cook the dish, have ready all seasonings needed. Stir to mix well all the seasonings and set aside.
First heat up oil in wok for deep-frying. Place coated eggplant in the hot oil and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown, about 3 minutes each side. Deep fry in batches to prevent overcrowding. Dish up and set aside.
In the same wok, place 1 tbsp oil. When heated up, sauté dried shrimp and chopped garlic until golden brown and fragrant. Add in the seasoning and stir well.
Add in fried eggplant, diced red chilli, chopped spring onion and mix well. Dish up and serve immediately.
This dish is ideal served with steamed white rice. So Enjoy!
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients:
Prepare Seasonings:
To Cook Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant:
Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Notes
- Choose Chinese eggplants that are small to medium size which have smooth and taut vibrant purple skin.
- Choose Chinese eggplants that are long and thin instead of wide and round.
- Avoid wrinkled Chinese eggplants which may be dried out or old.
- When you’re ready to start deep frying, heat a few inches of oil in a pot/wok with high sides and a heavy base. A thick base helps the oil heat evenly and high sides prevent oil from bubbling over.
- Make sure the oil stays around the same temperature throughout the cooking process.
- Fry the eggplant in small batches to maintain the high temperature, turning the pieces after about 1 minute so they cook evenly.
- Do not overfry. Fry till the exterior of eggplant turns slightly golden .
