This is the dry, crunchy answer to braised aubergine. The strips are salted to draw out water, dusted with starch three times so the coating stays on, fried once to cook them through and a second time at a higher temperature to crisp the shell. The sauce is deliberately sharp.
Northeastern Chinese · Main
Crispy Sweet and Sour Aubergine, Twice Fried and Glazed Last
Salt pulls the water out, starch goes on in three passes, and the strips are fried twice before a three to two to two to three sauce goes over them at the very end.
- Prep25 min
- Cook15 min
- Serves3
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 1 | long aubergine |
| 2 tsp | salt , for drawing water |
| 90 g | cornstarch , for dusting, as needed |
| 10 | Sichuan peppercorns |
| 3 | dried chillies , snipped |
| 1 | spring onion , chopped |
| 2 slices | ginger |
| 3 tbsp | caster sugar |
| 2 tbsp | light soy sauce |
| 2 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 3 tbsp | black vinegar |
| 1/2 tsp | white pepper , as needed |
| 1 tbsp | sesame seeds |
| 1 small handful | coriander , cut into segments |
| 600 ml | cooking oil , for frying, as needed |
Method
- Cut the aubergine lengthways into quarters, then into batons about the width of your finger. Trim out the seedy core if you prefer a cleaner bite.
- Toss the batons with the salt and leave them for ten minutes. Press them dry in a clean cloth; the more water you remove, the crisper they will be.
- Dust with a third of the cornstarch, toss, then repeat twice more. Every face of every baton should be white, with no damp patches.
- Heat the oil to about 150 C, or until a baton dropped in sends up a steady ring of bubbles, and fry in batches until pale gold. Drain on a rack, not on paper.
- Raise the oil to about 190 C and fry each batch a second time for thirty seconds. This is what keeps them crisp under the sauce.
- Pour off all but a tablespoon of oil, then fry the spring onion, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and chillies until fragrant.
- Stir the sugar, soy, oyster sauce, vinegar and white pepper together and tip them into the wok. Let the sauce bubble down to a thick syrup.
- Add the aubergine and turn it fast so the glaze catches on every strip, then kill the heat.
- Scatter with sesame and coriander and get it to the table while the coating still crackles.
Notes
- The second fry is not optional. A single fry gives you a coating that goes limp the moment the sauce touches it.
- Salt the aubergine before the starch, never after. Salt on a starch coating draws water to the surface and turns it into paste.
- Keep the sauce sharp. If your vinegar is mild, add another half spoon, because the sugar and oyster sauce both push it sweet.
Ratios and technique checked against 小鱼哥的私房 on Douguo (经典炒风味茄子). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.