Yu Xiang eggplant features crispy eggplant covered in a sticky sweet, sour, savory and slightly spicy sauce. A signature Sichuan dish that turns eggplant haters into eggplant lovers. {Vegetarian Vegan Adaptable, Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Yu Xiang eggplant (鱼香茄子), or Sichuan eggplant stir fry, is one of those under-appreciated Sichuan dishes that deserves more attention. Throughout the years, whenever I took a foreign friend or colleague to a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing, this stir fry was always one of the most popular dishes on the table.
What is yu xiang?
Yu xiang literally translates as “fish-fragrant” in Chinese, which might not sound as appetizing as the dish tastes.
In fact, fish-fragrant eggplant has nothing to do with fish.
According to folklore, a housewife was cooking eggplant for dinner and did not want to waste the leftover sauce used in a fish dish. The sauce was designed to cover up the fishiness and muddiness of river fish, so it was extra fragrant. The dish turned out so well and her husband loved it more than the original fish dish. Thus, the dish was named yú xiāng or “fish-fragrant” as an homage to the delicious sauce.
Yu xiang flavor is one of the seven key flavors in Sichuan cuisine. It contains soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, sugar, fermented spicy bean paste (dòubànjiàng), chili peppers, and a generous amount of fresh garlic, ginger and onion. It results in a well-balanced, sweet and sour spicy sauce that is bursting with umami. The taste might be considered similar to General Tso’s sauce, only 10 times more flavorful.
Yu xiang eggplant ingredients
What type of eggplant to use
The best eggplant for making yu xiang eggplant is Chinese eggplant or Japanese eggplant (they are very similar).
The long and skinny Asian eggplant contains less moisture than the Western type, which results in a crispier texture in the stir fry. However, you can also use Western eggplant by following the salt water soaking method in this recipe.
The best vinegar to use
Some yu xiang eggplant recipes call for rice vinegar. But if you really want the rich tangy taste like the restaurant version has, you should use Chinkiang vinegar instead.
Chinkiang vinegar (Zhenjiang vinegar, 镇江香醋) is a type of Chinese black vinegar. It is made from various grains and is aged until the color turns dark brown or inky black. It has a rich, pungent, and tart flavor, sometimes with a hint of sweetness. It has a fermented malty taste and a woody character that distinguish it from the light-colored and fruity rice vinegar.
These days it’s quite easy to find it in an Asian market and even at regular grocery stores. You can also shop for it on Amazon.
Doubanjiang
Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱), also called fermented spicy bean paste, is a key ingredient for the ultimate umami. It is a super rich, fermented, spicy paste made with dried fava beans, fresh chili peppers, salt, and wheat flour, then aged for one to eight years. Doubanjiang has a deep savory, spicy, and quite salty taste. It is a key ingredient in classic Sichuan dishes such as Mapo Tofu.
You can find it in an Asian market, on Amazon, or at Mala Market.
Sichuan peppercorns
Sichuan peppercorn (Hua Jiao, 花椒) is optional but I highly recommend adding it if you have it on hand. The taste of fresh Sichuan peppercorn is almost indescribable: numbing, tingling, and somewhat refreshing like mint. These peppercorns add a savory, smoky, and slightly citrusy flavor to a dish, and it’s that flavor that defines genuine Sichuan food. I consider it even more important than Sichuan chili peppers, truly distinguishing the dish and giving it a character unlike anything else. It’s a key ingredient in many classic Sichuan dishes such as Dan Dan Noodles, Mala Chicken, and Red Oil Wontons.
I highly recommend you purchase Sichuan peppercorns from Mala Market. They carry the freshest Sichuan peppercorns in the US, sourced directly from Sichuan. It truly makes a world of difference.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook yu xiang eggplant, your table should have:
- Mixed sauce
- Ground meat
- Aromatics (ginger, garlic, green onion)
- Sichuan spices (Doubanjiang, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chili pepper)
How to make yu xiang eggplant
- Pan fry the eggplant until crispy
- Sear the ground meat
- Add the aromatics
- Cook with doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn
- Thicken the sauce
- Add the cooked eggplant back in
The secret to cooking perfect eggplant on the stovetop
Eggplant is one of the trickiest vegetables to cook with, though the result is super rewarding if you do it right. In the past, I’ve discovered the method of creating crispy eggplant on the stovetop without deep-frying. The key is to marinate the eggplant in salted water and then dust it with cornstarch before searing it on a flat-bottom pan. You can read my Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce recipe to view the details.
With this technique the eggplant pieces turn out extra crispy with a tender inside. Better still, you can use regular Western eggplant instead of Asian eggplant, and it will work perfectly!
It proves again that you can cook perfect yu xiang eggplant if you follow the right method. Next time you don’t need to make the extra trip to the Asian market to make this hearty dish.
How to keep the purple color of the eggplant?
The yu xiang eggplant from a Chinese restaurant has a beautiful bright purple color. It is achieved by flash frying (过油, Guo You) – the eggplant pieces are quickly fried in a pool of oil in a wok, until the outside is crispy and the inside is al dente. Many dishes use this method to preserve the color of the vegetable while maintaining a great texture.
I do not use the flash frying method at home because it requires a lot of oil. It is quite messy for a home kitchen, and creates a lot of smoke.
The pan frying method cuts the oil to a minimum, and the result is still great. To preserve the eggplant color, try cooking the eggplant until al dente instead of turning tender fully, for the best color.
How to serve yu xiang eggplant
Yu xiang eggplant is a very satisfying dish that you can serve as a main dish over steamed rice. In China, this one is a lunch set menu favorite!
Of course you can also serve yu xiang eggplant as part of a multi-course meal. For a full-on Sichuan dinner, serve this one along with dishes such as Pickled Cabbage, Mala Chicken (La Zi Ji), Dry Fried Green Beans, Dan Dan Noodles, and Stir Fried Pea Shoots.
More vegetable main dishes
- Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
- Di San Xian (Fried Potato, Eggplant and Pepper in Garlic Sauce 地三鲜)
- General Tso Tofu (Crispy Tofu without Deep Frying)
- Chinese Vegetarian Noodle Soup
- Vegetarian Chow Mein
Yu Xiang Eggplant (鱼香茄子, Sichuan Eggplant Stir Fry)
Ingredients
- 2 (400 g) Chinese eggplant , cut to bite-sized pieces (or regular eggplant) (*Footnote 1)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (to coat the eggplant)
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cook
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 4 oz (110 g) ground pork (or chicken) (*Footnote 2) (Optional)
- 8 to 10 dried Chinese chili peppers
- 2 green onions , sliced
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger , minced
- 2 teaspoons doubanjiang
- 1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorn (Optional)
Instructions
- Place eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix well. Place a plate on top so the eggplant pieces are submerged in the water. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Once done, drain and pat dry with paper towels.
- Add all the sauce ingredients into a bowl. Stir to mix well.
- Sprinkle eggplant with cornstarch and mix by hand, until eggplant is evenly coated.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Spread eggplant across the bottom of the skillet without overlapping. Cook the eggplant, stirring occasionally, until the edge of the eggplant is lightly charred and the texture just starts to soften, 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a plate. If the skillet gets too hot and starts to smoke, turn to medium heat.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and the ground meat. Cook and chop the pork into smaller pieces, until fully cooked.
- Sichuan peppercorns into the pan. Cook over medium heat until the peppercorns turn dark brown. Remove them with a spatula and transfer to a small bowl (*Footnote 3). Add green onion, garlic and ginger. Stir a few times to release fragrance.
- Add the doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorns. Stir and cook until the pork is evenly coated.
- Stir the sauce again to completely dissolve the cornstarch, then pour into the pan. Stir until the sauce thickens. Return the eggplant to the pan and quickly stir to mix everything well. Serve hot as a main dish or side dish.
Notes
- Long Asian eggplant (Chinese or Japanese eggplant) works the best and the soaking step can be skipped if you are using one of those two kinds. You can use regular Western eggplant instead. But make sure you use the salt soaking method if using regular eggplant.
- You can skip the ground meat to make a vegan dish and the sauce will still be very tasty.
Beautiful photo! I learned how to make this dish during a cooking class in Dali China and loved it!
Thank you for stopping by! I hope this recipe will turn out as good as the one you learnt in Dali China! 🙂
I loved watching your video! Eggplant is my favorite veggies and this sounds really delicious. I always wish that they don’t absorb much oil while cooking. That’s one negative thing about this veggie, but I love that it absorb sauce… haha. Looks delicious!!!
I totally agree with you about eggplant absorbs too much oil! They don’t taste so great if cooking with less oil and I already tried my best to reduce the oil to minimum amount.
I’m so glad you like my video. It really took time to shoot and do post edit, but it was a lot of fun! 🙂
Nami & Maggie,
My mother taught me this method to avoid eggplants from absorbing oils:
1. Spread the sliced eggplant on a towel.
2. Sprinkle Kosher salt on both surfaces of the sliced eggplant.
3. Allow to rest for 45-60 minutes.
4. Pat dry each surface.
5. Do not rinse eggplants.
This method will extract the moisture from the eggplants and will allow very little amount of oil to be absorbed. Most oil will be on the outside.
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your method and I will try out next time! I think it will work great on fried eggplant too. Hope you have a great week 🙂
Did it work?
Wow, your entire blog looks fantastic and makes me so hungry! I”m gonna have to start making a whole bunch of your recipes!
Hi Nicole, I’m so glad you like my blog! Cannot wait to hear your feedbacks for my recipes! 🙂
This recipe is a winner! I made it today and it was a universal success. What a great idea to soak the eggplant strips in water!
I substituted sake for Shaoxing wine and used sambal instead of Doubanjiang. Are these two ingredients reasonably close? Even if not, the dish tasted great! 🙂
Hi Nicole, I’m so glad to hear that you make this dish and found it delicious! Sake is very similar with Shaoxing wine but I never thought I can use sambal in this one! It sounds great too and I’ll remember to try it out myself. 🙂
That looks fantastic……such vibrant colours. I, like many, didn’t like eggplant as a kid however love it now.
One of my favourites is vegetarian lasagne made with eggplant. I’ll need to give this a try Maggie, thanks for sharing.
Hi Trent, thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Vegetarian lasagne sounds great. I just got a pasta machine from a friend, and I’d like to try it out with the freshly made pasta. 🙂
The fish fragrant sauce contains no fish at all!?
Nope, no fish in this one.
“Fish fragrant” is a special combination of condiments that commonly used in Szechuan cuisine. It is said the sauce was originally used for cooking fish, but when people tried the sauce with other dishes, they found they are all very tasty, for example fish fragrant pork.
I think it’s similar to sweet sour sauce, goes well with everything. But this one has “fish” in the name, so sounds confusing.
tried this recipe today and it was pretty darn close to restaurant quality (but without the oil!)
great technique. thanks for sharing!
Hi Harvey, thanks very much for leaving a comment and I’m so glad to hear you tried my recipe! Hope you enjoyed the dish and have a great day ahead! 🙂
This looks really good, I will try this next week. I’ve been steaming my eggplants before stir frying them. That really cuts down on the oil. I add salt and fish sauce while steaming the eggplants too.
Hi Samantha, thanks for sharing the tips! I like fish sauce and it sounds lovely with the eggplant. I steam eggplant too, but only used it in cold dishes. I like the crispiness of eggplant in stir fried dishes, but it does use more oil. Ultimate dilemma!
I don’t have the Chinkiang vinegar or the rice wine, can I just use malt vinegar and leave out the wine?
Hi Michael, I believe you can use malt vinegar as an alternative. And yes, you can leave out the wine and replace it with water. The wine adds a nice subtle flavor, but it won’t be a problem without it. Happy cooking and hope the dish turns out great 🙂
If you don’t have Chinkiang vinegar, you can use Balsamic vinegar.
So glad I found your website. Looks like my search is over! This is going to be my one-stop go to for Chinese recipes! I have been trying to find authentic chinese eggplant recipes and have tried so many not-so-good ones. I’m from Shanghai and I appreciate all food and I cook Italian and American on most days. But the fusion recipes on traditional dishes just don’t cut it for me. I tried this one tonight and love it! Thank you for sharing! Mapo Tofu is next.
Hi Kit, I’m so glad to hear you tried my recipe and enjoyed the dish! Sorry to reply this so late. I’ve been traveling back to China this month and stayed offline most of the time. We cook a lot of Italian and American too (also Mexican!), but just like you said, I crave for the authentic Chinese dishes every now and then. I love Shanghai food, although some of them are very challenging to make. Soup dumpling is on my cooking list of 2016 🙂
Please let me know if you want to learn a new recipe but couldn’t find on my blog! I’d love to develop the recipe for you!
Happy cooking and Happy New Year!
I’d love to see a recipe for soup dumplings!!
Thanks so much for this! I have not been this moved by a blog post for quite some time! You have got it, whatever that means in blogging. Anyway, You are definitely someone that has something to say that people need to hear. Keep up the wonderful work. Keep on inspiring the people!
jack wolfskin canada http://www.jackwolfskinoutlet.store
i will give it a try tonight for I am planning to prepare healthy and yummy eggplant dish for my hubby. as eggplant is pone of our fave veggie, i am so bored with the same method i cook that is why I am searching different way of cooking eggplant and i came across to this. Thanks to this ms maggie, more power.
Hi Alona, I’m glad to hear you decided to give this dish a try! I hope your cooking goes well and the dish turns out great 🙂
If you need another eggplant dish, try out this one too: https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-eggplant-with-garlic-sauce It’s one of the most popular recipes on my blog.
Let me know how the cooking goes!
I finally had a chance to stop-by the nearest Asian grocery store (that’s two hours away) and got Chinese eggplant to make this. The eggplant came out really nicely. My husband mentioned the crispiness without me pointing it out (although, he thought it was mushroom). Thank you for the recipe.
I forgot! I couldn’t get fresh Thai chili. I used dried ones and stir-fried it in oil hoping that the spiciness would transfer. Is there a good way to substitute with dry chili or red pepper flakes?
I’m glad to hear you and your husband enjoy the dish!
To answer your question, yes, dried chili peppers and red pepper flakes definitely work. In fact it’s the more proper way to do it, in an authentic Sichuan way.
I happened to have Thai chili on hand that time so I ended up using it. To make the sauce spicy, you can either snip the dried chili peppers to 2 to 3 pieces (to reveal the seeds) or add about 1 teaspoon chili flakes (depends on the spiciness of your chili flakes).
Hope you have a delicious week ahead J-Mom 🙂
This dish looks delicious! I’ll have to make it when eggplants come into season this summer.
But I’m really curious about the key flavors of Sichuan cuisine. What are the other six? I assume one is mala?
Nick, yes one of the flavors is mala. The other six Sichuan flavors are:
Mala (Numbing spicy) – see my Mala chicken recipe: https://omnivorescookbook.com/mala-chicken/
Spicy – mapo tofu https://omnivorescookbook.com/recipes/authentic-mapo-tofu/
Tangerine – it has spicy, numbing and a citrus flavor
Numbing – Mostly sichuan pepeprcorns, mixed with other savory flavor
Weird (guai wei) – the sauce is nutty, spicy, numbing, sweet, savory, and sour. see https://omnivorescookbook.com/sichuan-chicken-with-spicy-sesame-sauce I know the name might sound strange…
Sour spicy – like the fish with pickled mustard dish https://omnivorescookbook.com/suan-cai-yu
You need to try out the eggplant! It’s one of my favorites and I believe you’ll like it too 🙂
Thank you! I love learning about the different cuisines of China through the delicious recipes on your blog!
You’re the most welcome Nick! I’m so happy to hear you care about Chinese food 🙂
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
I LUUUUUV eggplant! This has to taste like a rock band in your mouth. Definitely will be trying this. Thank you.
Yes definitely! Happy cooking Amy and let me know how the dish turns out 🙂 This is one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it too!
Salut Maggie,
Tes recettes sont formidables….non seulement tu nous régales mais en plus tu nous instruits à travers la genèse de la recette.Le choix est vaste et satisfait même les plus difficiles ! Tu côtoies l’excellence et tu enrichi notre culture culinaire…merci pour ton partage et continue de nous émerveiller ! ???
Salut Maggie,
Merci pour tes recettes aussi délicieuses les unes que les autres ! Non seulement tu régales nos papilles mais en plus tu enrichis notre culture culinaire à travers la genèse de chaque recette ! Bravo et continue de nous émerveiller ! ??
Hi, I’ve been enjoying this recipe as one of my ‘go-to’ quick dinners for a while, but just recently noticed you have changed it (inclusion of stock, use of szechuan peppercorns etc). We found the new version was not as nice as the original . Can you you send me the original version?
Many thanks,
Rob
Hi Rob, sorry for the slow reply! Here is the original version if you still need it:
1 large long eggplant (300 grams / 10 ounces), cut into strips
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinkiang Vinegar (black rice vinegar)
1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon minced ginger
100 grams (3.5 ounces) ground pork
1 teaspoon Doubanjiang (chili bean paste)
2 fresh Thai chili peppers, chopped (or 1 pepper for less spicy dish)
1. Add eggplant and 1 teaspoon salt into a large pot of water and mix well. Place a lid on top of the eggplant to keep it submerged in the water. After 10 to 15 minutes, drain the eggplant and dry it thoroughly with a paper towel. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons cornstarch over the eggplant, 1 teaspoon at a time, and rub it by hand to coat all eggplant strips well.
2. Combine light soy sauce, vinegar, Shaoxing wine, 1/4 teaspoon salt, sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a small bowl, mix well, and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a big nonstick skillet over medium high heat. When oil is hot, after about 2 minutes, carefully add eggplant and stir fry until the eggplant turns soft and golden brown on the outside (* see footnote 1), 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer eggplant to a plate and set aside.
4. In the same skillet, add 1 teaspoon oil, garlic and ginger, and give it a stir. Add ground pork and stir fry until surface of pork turns white, about 1 minute. Add Doubanjiang and continue stirring constantly until pork mixes with the paste and turns dark red, about 1 minute. Add Thai pepper and eggplant and give it a stir. Evenly pour the mixed fish fragrant sauce (from step 2) over the eggplant and stir immediately to mix everything well, for 1 – 2 minutes. (optional) Turn to lowest heat and taste the eggplant (be careful, the eggplant will be very hot!). Adjust flavor by sprinkling a bit more salt or sugar, then turn to medium heat and use a spatula to mix everything well again (*see footnote 2). Stop heat and transfer eggplant with the pork and sauce to a plate.
5. Serve warm with steamed white rice.
I have been making this dish for years…ever since I first saw it on your website! It is one of my favorite dishes and has become a weekly regular. Thank you so much!
Hi Jacqueline, thanks for much for leaving a comment and I’m glad to hear you like the dish as much as I do! Top it on hot rice, so irresistible!
I made this eggplant dish tonight. First of all, I love, love, love eggplant, especially Thai, Chinese, or Italian. The recipe posted here was absolutely delicious! The one thing I changed up was adding more peppers. We love the heat. Thank you for this recipe.
YUM! I could’ve used low sodium soy sauce, but it’s super delicious and I appreciate how you don’t skimp the the sauce. So many similar recipes don’t make nearly enough sauce. Also, thank you for instructing how to infuse the oil with the peppercorns….way more enjoyable than leaving them in. Will be using your site from now on!
I’m so glad to hear you tried and like the recipe, Emmie! It’s one of my favorite eggplant dishes 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more dishes you will cook in your own kitchen!
My partner and I are not really fans of eggplant, but this recipe looked so good we gave it a try anyway. Oh my gosh, it was SO GOOD!
Even just the fried eggplant bare was yummy, but the sauce made them even better! I love the level of heat with doubanjang and the mala of the peppercorn infused oil. Delicious!
Hi Leah, I’m so glad to hear you like the dish! I don’t cook with eggplant so often because it’s so time consuming. But for this dish, it’s totally worth the effort 🙂
Thanks so much for taking time to leave a comment and hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! I’ve just tried this tonight. The sauce is absolutely delectable! Sticky sauce is perfect for the rice. However, it’s a tad bitter. What do you think what might have gone wrong? Too much ginger? Or have I let the peppercorn in the pan for too long?
Hi KK, I’m glad to hear you tried my recipe! Regard your question about the light bitter taste, it might be caused by Sichuan peppercorns. Adding ginger won’t cause any bitter flavor. The pan can be quite hot after you cooked the eggplant, so the hot oil might over cooked the Sichuan peppercorns. Next time you could try waiting until they turn darker, but not black.
I hope this is helpful and you’ll make a better batch of sauce the next time 🙂
This looks insanely delicious! I cannot wait to try this recipe out! Thanks for the share
we LOVE eggplant and had this dish in a good, family run hole in the wall sichuan restaurant while on the road this summer. i swore i’d make it if i could find a recipe with the abundance of asian eggplant from ou garden. made it tonight using home grown hot and sweet peppers and also added browned tofu chunks (doubled the sauce to accommodate and it was the perfect amount). thank you for a great recipe i am totally bookmarking this one to make again!
I tried this last night and it was delicious! I’ll be making it again!
I just made this, and it is delicious! I am so happy that I found this recipe because it is one of my favorite dishes. Thank you so much
Hi!
Can’t wait to try this ( vegan )I am a former Austinite now living in Hangzhou.Had this in Chengdu at a neighborhood shop on a cold rainy day and it warmed me up!!! Inside out..I have been craving it ever since.Thanks for the recipe will let you know how it turns out!
Hi Jonmarie, I’m glad to hear you wanted to try out this dish at home. Pretty sure the vegan version will be amazing too. Happy cooking and can’t wait to hear how your dish turns out! 🙂
lol i made this but in my rush i thought it said 2 tbsp of sichuan peppercorns for cooking instead 2 tsp. completely ruined the dish, after tasting i was thinking this recipe was horrible. im going to try to remake
Hello. We made this last night and it was SO good! We have never found a recipe for eggplant that we really enjoyed. Now we have. And you’re right–the eggplant did stay crispy, even when we added the sauce. Such a delicious combination of flavors. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Hi Maggie. We have used 2 of your recipes this week. Sichuan Dry Fried Beans with pork is in regular rotation at our house, so that was one. The other was this Sichuan Eggplant Stir Fry. I was inspired to try it because we had an amazing Szechuan Eggplant with Fish dish at a restaurant (actually a counter at a food court) near Atlanta; trust me, it’s worth it! I didn’t find a specific recipe for that, but this dish comes close (without the fish). We used the long thin eggplants which did not stay crispy in the sauce but the texture and flavour were still lovely. We had it over riced cauliflower. Thank you for all your hard work!
There is nothing in the instructions about cooking the optional pork.
Oops! Sorry about that. I just added the instruction to step 7.
Thank you. I feel better about trying the recipe.
This is amazing. It literally melts in your mouth. It’s in my rotation. My family loves it. Thank you for this gem!
Hi I made way too much egg plant. Can I freeze this, after cooking it?
Thanks
This is how I discovered the website, searching for Sichuan eggplant! It was so delicious and the instructions were so clear and easy to follow. This dish melts in your mouth. Thanks Maggie!
Wow, what a great recipe. We live in a small town so the spicy bean paste isn’t in any of our grocery stores, but we found a bean sauce that has been paste as a main ingredient, so we used that and let the moisture cook off. We’re vegetarians so we’re always on the lookout for new recipes to have in our repertoire. Thanks. Excellent.
That was the tastiest Chinese dish I’ve ever made! Thank you so much! I can’t wait to try your other recipes now.
This dish was phenomenally delicious. The sauce was to die for. Ideal balance of sweet, sour and hot. Thank you Maggie!!
We cooked this last night. It was absolutely delicious. We followed the recipe closely, only sustituting sweet snack peppers for the chilis, and sherry for the wine. It took about 25 minutes to fry off the eggplants in 3 batches. We found that soaking and drying the eggplants in a salad spinner worked well. The szechuan peppercorns added a lot to the flavor of the dish. We’ll try it vegetarian next time…
I love your photos and your recipes. I had great success w/ the sichuan eggplant- tasted authentic and my whole family loved it. We also made the pineapple fried rice and honey garlic chicken wings and they all turned out delicious! You do a nice job of explaining the recipes and making authentic food accessible to everyone.
Hi I’m Stacia from Australia and very excited to try your Sichuan eggplant recipe I”ve always loved eggplant and wondered how to cook it so I’ll try it soon
i just made this dish. simplified it a bit to make it one process pot. do not skimp on the sichuan pepper. i added double and it tastes amazing flubble wubble
This was very delicious – eggplant flavors were just what I wanted. However, I think I used too much corn starch and it came out too gloppy and made the dish heavy. To be more healthy, I might use less sugar next time at well – hope it doesn’t change the flavors too much. I also will try using less oil – or using it in divided portions – I put in all the oil in the beginning and the early eggplants were cooked similar to a deep-fry technique!
With rice, a complete dinner by itself. As with much Asian inspired cooking the prep takes the most time and is crucial to have everything ready to go. The video was especially helpful for me to see the sizes and shapes to cut everything. The sauce turned out silky and flavorful. The final dish was rich and filling.
Maggie,
This is the 1st time I cooked this dish following your recipe as much as possible. I left out the chillies because of my son but added chillie into mine. I wasn’t too sure if he will eat the eggplant but he ate up every bit of it. So thank you very much for your recipe.
Janet C
Maggie,
Please note that, in the revised version, you did not mention when to return the toasted Sichuan peppercorns to the dish.
??Or are they just meant to flavor the oil??
BZ
The Sichuan peppercorns are added in the recipe to infuse the oil. And you can see in footnote 3 on how to use them later. You can grind them up and use in other dishes.
I’ve been making this recipe for the past 8 months and my whole family loves it. We make it without the pork as we don’t eat it. Yesterday, for the first time, I was able to harvest and use Asian eggplant from my own garden that I grew specifically with this dish in mind. Absolutely incredible!
Hi Heather, I’m glad to hear you like the dish and it’s amazing you grew some Asian eggplant for it 🙂
Thanks for leaving a good review!
Even my eggplant -hating husband loves this!
This recipe was better than restaurants! It turned out spectacularly. Thanks for the tips on how to keep the eggplant crispy.
Made this for the 1st time, won’t be the last though
Can i fry the eggplant earlier (morning) and then just finish with sauce before dinner? Or it will get soggy?
The eggplant will get soggy but pan fry them before adding the sauce will help crisp up the eggplant again. Also, you can store the eggplant by spreading them out on a big plate and cover loosely with kitchen paper towels. It helps the batter stay dry, which result in a better texture than refrigerate them. Happy cooking and hope your dish turns out well 🙂
Every guest tells me its better than they have ever had in a restaurant
Great recipe! I replaced the pork with chopped and boiled tempeh (my favorite meat replacement) and it was luuuuuvly! We are great fans of the Sichuan cuisine and this ticked all our boxes including the one titled “learn how to appreciate egg plant”! Thank you for your work!
This is better than at the best Szechuan place in the city. The real deal paste makes a huge difference, and I was fortunate to find Pixian locally. We’ve made this twice in a few days now, and it’s just mind-blowing.
In 2003 we spent our first summer in China teaching conversational English. We fell in love with “fish-taste eggplant” and ate it almost every day. I’ve never found it at a Chinese restaurant in the states, but it I can find all the ingredients it’s about to be cooked in the southern part of Georgia.
I usually never leave reviews, but Ive been following your recipes quite a while and this…I made this yesterday. IT WAS AMAZING!!
This was delicious. And relatively easy.
I will absolutely make this many times more!
Super delicious recipe – it helped me use up that odd eggplant I had in the fridge. Thank you!
This recipe looks great. Question about doubanjiang substitutions – would hoisin sauce, broad bean paste, or chili bean paste work instead? Thank you!
Chili bean paste would work pretty well. I’m not sure about the type of broad bean paste you’re using because it can be a translation of doubanjiang. But it won’t work if it’s the non-spicy salty type.
Maggie, this recipe was outstanding! Totally delicious. Thank you for posting. I look forward to trying more recipes from your website. 🙂
I have made this dish 4x. I tweeked it a bit. I steamed everything instead of frying. I add snowpeas, carrots and shrimp. Today I will fry the eggplant to see the results. It’s the best sauce ever!
I have just finished scraping the pan out with fist-fulls of scrunched rice. This recipe is so very, very good. Thank you so much for the work and time it took to develop this!!
I’m currently living and working in the middle of Congo during the Covid pandemic. I never thought I’d be able to enjoy something so authentic and delicious while living here. Even with my limited access to “speciality” ingredients (looking at you doubanjiang *sigh*) it was fabulous. Took me back to my favourite jiachang restaurant in TianTongYuan (shout out to all outside-ringroadfive-homies). To anyone who might be thinking of making this. Do it. Tonight. The eggplant cooking technique is perfect. Don’t change a thing. And please make sure you have some really decent white steamed rice. I’d recommend twice as much you make. You’ll need it.
it takes me quite a bit longer than the estimated time to make (mostly bc of batch cooking) but this recipe is so incredible, thank you!! i’ve made twice now and it is so so good. i’ve done it with both ground pork and finely minced mushrooms and it’s better than restaurant quality!
Delicious, thank you for all the tips!
Could I use chicken instead of pork?
Yes! Chicken would work great.
OMG where has this recipe been all my life? I love chinese eggplant with spicy sauce and this recipe is absolutely by far the best I have ever made. Soaking the eggplant–perfect. Putting in the eggplant last into the sauce–perfect. The eggplant was nice and crispy on the outside and super moist on the inside. I made one change–I put sliced chicken instead of ground pork and it worked perfectly. The chinese vinegar is sweeter than regular vinegar but it gave it a great taste. Thanks for a fantastic recipe
This was really delicious. Did I miss the part where the peppercorns go back in the pan? I wasn’t sure, so I added it with the scallions, ginger and garlic.
This is very tasty and a welcome edition to the recipe collection for eggplant which our garden seems to produce at a great rate.
However, points 5-9 need some editing – conflicting instructions.
So happy to hear you liked the dish and thanks for letting me know about the mistake! Sorry about the confusion. I have updated the recipe with the correct instructions.
Unbelievable recipe…best chinese eggplant dish ever ty so much