Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant is a delicious chinese style stir fry dish, so simple but amazingly rich in flavour! Perfect to be served with hot steamed rice. The star of this dish is the juicy Chinese Eggplant.
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.
Prepare Seasonings:
Before we start to cook the dish, have ready all seasonings needed. Stir to mix well all the seasonings and set aside.
To Cook Deep Fried Crispy Eggplant:
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!
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 .