Recipe - Eggplant Szechuan Style

2 cup Eggplant, or one medium
sized eggplant cut into 3"
x 1" x 1/2" pieces
One half cup Flour

FLAVORING MIXTURE
1 teaspoon Chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Chopped ginger
1 tablespoon Chopped green onion
One half cup Ground pork (or beef, see
notes for vegetarian
option)
2 tablespoon Cooking oil
6 cup Deep frying oil

SAUCE MIXTURE
1 tablespoon Dry sherry
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
2 teaspoon Hot bean sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar
1 teaspoon Corn starch
1/3 cup Sauce stock

GARNISH
1 tablespoon Chopped green onion

Shake the eggplant in flour, making sure that all the cut surfaces are
coated. Deep fry the coated eggplant at 375oF for 2 to 4 minutes until
golden brown in color and soft. Place the fried eggplant on a few layers of
paper towels to absorb excess oil. Stir fry the flavoring mixture in 2 TBS
of cooking oil until it smells good, add the ground pork and fry until it
is done. Add the sauce mixture, stir well and when the sauce turns clear,
mix in the fried eggplant. Gently fold the eggplant into the sauce.

Notes:

To make a hotter dish a tsp or two of Szechuan hot sauce may be added to
the sauce mixture, or a TBS of shredded fresh hot peppers may be stir fried
along with the flavoring mixture. For those who prefer not to eat meat, 1/2
cup of shredded black mushrooms or fresh mushrooms may be substituted for
the pork. If deep frying is a problem, another approach is to pan fry the
eggplant patiently. Cover the wok while frying and sprinkle a few drops of
water periodically to speed up the cooking. The eggplant can also be baked
or steamed. Posted to EATL Digest by "Pamela F. Wagner"
FanofPern@AOL.COM on Jul 5, 1997