Crisp eggplant with fish-fragrant sauce recipe by Dan Hong (2024)

FAQs

How long do you soak eggplant before frying? ›

I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn't have to do with bitterness, but I find that in doing this, the fried eggplant turns out less greasy," Jenkins says.

Despite the term literally meaning "fish fragrance" in Chinese, yuxiang contains no seafood and is typically not added to seafood. On top of the basic mixture, cooking yuxiang almost always includes the use of sugar, vinegar, doubanjiang, soy sauce, and pickled chili peppers.

Soak it in milk.

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Despite its name, there's no fish in the recipe. Instead, it's a nod to the fact that the sauce boasts a combination of sweet, savory, spicy and sour that's delicious with seafood. Yuxiang Eggplant (yùh hēung 魚香 ké jí 茄子) literally translates to Fish Fragrant Eggplant.

Not sure which exact dialect), fish fragrant anything is zippy and spicy and tingly from a healthy mix of ginger, scallions, garlic, chiles and Sichuan peppercorns — these are the powerful, memorable, addicting flavors that first seduced me as a child, when I used to eat often at a Hunan restaurant; Hunan cooking uses ...

Grain-based black vinegar (醋, cù) is a fixture of Chinese pantries that adds a rich, slightly sweet, tangy flavor to raw salads and cooked dishes. The same Maillard reaction that turns your onions into sweet, concentrated slivers of caramelized flavor is responsible for black vinegar's deep umami.

Eggplants are known to absorb a lot of fat while cooking. A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour. This helps to draw out moisture. Next, rinse and drain any liquid from the sliced eggplant, then pat dry before cooking.

Before you cook

Before you start cooking an eggplant, you should get rid of any liquid residues and coat it well so it won't absorb oil. For this reason, slice your fruit (yes it's a fruit) and place it in a colander. Add a generous amount of salt and let it sit over the sink until all the liquids are eliminated.

Before cooking, you should pat the eggplant dry between paper towels. It can help to press down slightly on it to release a bit of the water. Use the eggplant immediately. This method works especially well before frying eggplant since it will crisp up more evenly.