Steamed Eggplants with Garlic Sauce

Steamed Eggplants with Garlic Sauce is a very popular Chinese home cooking dish. But when you steam the eggplants, they usually turn brown. So how do you preserve the purple color of eggplants? Stay tuned for this simple trick and happy cooking!

Recipe

Serving: 2 to 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
2 large Chinese eggplants
1 tablespoon white vinegar, or rice vinegar
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk scallions, thinly sliced
1 finger hot pepper
3 tablespoons avocado oil, or other high-smoking point oil

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions

To prepare the eggplants:

• In a large container of water, add the white vinegar. (Vinegar is our magic ingredient that will help to preserve the purple color of eggplants.) Whisk.
• Trim off the ends of each eggplant, quarter it lengthwise, and cut it in half crosswise. Do the same with the rest.
• Transfer the eggplants into the water mixture, and soak them for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top, so all the eggplants are submerged. (By doing so, the eggplants wouldn’t turn dark brown while cooking.) Discard the water and drain.

To make the sauce:

• In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, and sugar.

To steam:

• In a steamer over high heat, bring water to a boil. Place the eggplants inside. Steam for about 6 minutes until completely cooked through.

To serve:

• Place the eggplants on a serving plate. Then add garlic, finger hot pepper, and scallions on top.
• In a small pan over high heat, add the avocado oil. Heat it up until smoking hot. Pour the hot oil over the eggplants.
• Lastly, drizzle the sauce around the eggplants. Enjoy!

Here are some facts about eggplants:

• Eggplants are usually eaten as a type of vegetable, but they are technically a type of fruit, as they grow from a flowering plant and have seeds.
• Eggplants also contain a variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.