Cherry & Dennis Recipes
Braised Eggplant with Minced Pork
肉碎炆茄子
Recipe overview
Braised Eggplant with Minced Pork is a very common Hong Kong home-style dish to serve with rice. The eggplant becomes soft and absorbs the flavour of the minced pork and brown sauce. This recipe is useful for helpers because it practises handling eggplant, reducing browning, frying minced pork until loose and fragrant, and controlling the braising time. The key is to handle the eggplant soon after cutting, break up the pork well, keep the sauce not too salty, and braise until the eggplant is tender but still holds its shape.
01
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 2 purple eggplants
- 250g minced pork
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 stalk scallion
- 150ml water
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce Pork marinade:
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar Pork marinade:
- a little white pepper Pork marinade:
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water Cornstarch slurry:
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil Pork marinade:
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce Braising sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce Braising sauce:
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce, optional for colour Braising sauce:
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar Braising sauce:
- 150ml water Braising sauce:
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch Pork marinade:
02
Tools
- Chopping board
- Kitchen knife
- Large bowl
- Small bowls
- Tablespoon
- Teaspoon
- Chopsticks
- Non-stick wok or home wok
- Wok spatula
- Serving plate
03
Steps
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients
Prepare the eggplant, minced pork, garlic, ginger, scallion, and all seasonings first. Once stir-frying starts, the steps move quickly, so everything should be ready before turning on the heat.
Step 2
Marinate the minced pork
Mix minced pork with light soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, and cornstarch. Add a little cooking oil at the end and marinate for 10 minutes. This gives the pork flavour and helps keep it from drying out.
Step 3
Cut the eggplant
Wash the eggplant and cut it into rolling-cut pieces or thick strips of even size. Do not cut it too small, or it will break apart during braising.
Step 4
Soak and drain the eggplant
After cutting, soak the eggplant in water for 5 minutes if needed. Drain very well before cooking. This helps reduce browning, but wet eggplant will make the wok watery.
Step 5
Cut the aromatics
Chop the garlic, shred the ginger finely, cut the scallion whites into sections, and cut the green part into scallion pieces. Garlic and ginger make the pork and eggplant more fragrant.
Step 6
Mix the braising sauce
In a small bowl, mix light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and water. Prepare the cornstarch slurry separately and add it only at the end.
Step 7
Stir-fry the eggplant first
Heat the wok and add oil. Add the eggplant and stir-fry over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the surface softens slightly and looks glossy. Remove and set aside.
Step 8
Stir-fry the minced pork
In the same wok, add a little oil. Fry garlic, ginger, and scallion whites until fragrant, then add the minced pork. Press and break it up with the spatula until it changes colour.
Step 9
Return the eggplant
Put the eggplant back into the wok and mix it with the minced pork. Stir gently so the eggplant does not break.
Step 10
Braise with the sauce
Pour in the prepared sauce. Bring to a boil, then lower to medium-low heat, cover, and braise for 5-7 minutes until the eggplant is soft and flavourful.
Step 11
Check texture and taste
Open the lid and check that the eggplant is tender but not falling apart. If the sauce is too little, add a small amount of hot water. If it is not savoury enough, add only a little soy sauce.
Step 12
Thicken and serve
Slowly add the cornstarch slurry while gently stirring, so the sauce lightly coats the eggplant and pork. Sprinkle with scallion greens and serve hot.
Common mistakes
- Cutting the eggplant too small makes it mushy and broken after braising.
- Not draining soaked eggplant makes the wok watery and dilutes the flavour.
- Not breaking up the minced pork leaves big clumps with uneven texture.
- Adding too much oil at the beginning makes the finished dish greasy.
- Braising for too short a time leaves the eggplant hard in the centre.
- Braising too long or stirring too hard breaks the eggplant apart.
- Adding too much cornstarch slurry at once makes the sauce overly thick and unnatural.
Tips
The most important points are cutting the eggplant evenly and breaking up the minced pork. Eggplant absorbs oil easily, but you do not need to keep adding oil. Stir-fry until glossy, then braise it with sauce until soft. For the first try, keep the seasoning slightly light and ask Ma'am or Sir to taste. If there are children at home, cut the eggplant a little shorter so it is easier to eat with rice.
