Garden to Table: Eggplant Stir Fry
Happy September! Lindsay Kluge from Ginger Tonic Botanicals here to share my monthly Garden to Table recipe with Suite One Studio, and this month we're highlighting eggplants!
One of the last great summer abundant vegetables in our garden are Chinese eggplants. We planted 5 of these earlier in the season and that may have been 3 too many! Just one of these plants produces so many eggplants, and they just keep coming all season long. We've had to figure out a bunch of different ways to incorporate all of these eggplants into our meals over the past 3 months (and in all honesty, I'm not a huge eggplant fan myself), and this stir fry recipe is one of my favorites that I always look forward to. It's super easy to make, and it's pretty amenable to any vegetables you have on hand. We've also used things like broccoli, carrots, corn and chard in this recipe before and it always turns out well.
This is not a spicy recipe, but the sauces should be adjusted to your liking. You can increase or decrease any of the seasonings to taste and add in a bit of chili sauce if you'd like more of a spicy asian dish!
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 large Chinese eggplants, cubed in 1/2 inch pieces
1 yellow or red pepper, coarsely chopped
3 bunches of bok choy, coarsely chopped
3 blocks semi-firm organic tofu, drained and cubed
1/2 pound button mushrooms, washed and coarsely chopped
2 bunches scallions, coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
INSTRUCTION:
Heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil (or basic vegetable oil) in a large wok over medium heat and brown the tofu. Transfer the cooked tofu to a bowl. Add the remaining oil to the wok and and add the eggplants, sautéing until slightly browned. Transfer the eggplants to a bowl. Then add the peppers, scallions, garlic and mushrooms into the wok, increasing the temperature slightly and stirring often. Cook about 4-5 minutes. While these are cooking, combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and rice wine vinegar in a bowl and mix well. Add back the tofu and eggplants into the wok along with the bok choy and add the sauce mixture. Combine all ingredients well and cook an additional 3 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat. Serve over jasmine rice topped with sesame seeds and extra soy sauce if desired.