Monday, April 28, 2008

Pork & Eggplant Stirfry

Hubby mentioned a dish that he had growing up, consisting of pork, eggplant and onion, served over rice. I'm guessing it comes from the Filipino part of his family. Couldn't be too hard to recreate, could it?

2-3 lean pork chops, trimmed of fat, cut in 1" squares, 1/4" thick
1 Japanese eggplant, about 16" long
1 onion, cut in Chinese-restaurant-size pieces
soy sauce
veggie/canola oil
4 small dried chilis (e.g. chilis de arbol)
1 garlic clove, minced
Lawry's
rice

Cut eggplant in quarters lengthwise, then in 1" crosswise chunks.

Mix the pork with 2 chilis broken in half, some Lawry's and garlic powder. Let sit for a while, then cook over high heat with a little veggie oil until browned. Drain off any pork-water that accumulates during cooking so that it browns well. Remove pork from the skillet to drain on paper towels.

In the remaining oil in the skillet, add the eggplant, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft. Add some oil if necessary to facilitate sautéing and prevent scorching. Remove from skillet.

Add a little oil if necessary, and sauté the garlic, onion and remaining 2 chilies (broken in half) until the onion softens. Throw the pork and eggplant back in, and add soy sauce. Most of it will be absorbed by the eggplant. Add a little more. Serve over rice. Green onion would be a good garnish, but I was out.

Note: this is not very healthy, since eggplant is a sponge, and absorbs whatever salt and fat you throw at it, and if you want to actually taste any sodium/lipids, you have to add a lot.

Hubby: "You don't make this often enough."
Me: "But I've never made it before."
Hubby: "Exactly."

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