You may often hear about stir-fried or grilled eggplant, but have you ever heard of braised eggplant? Let’s join TasteVN in the kitchen to make two delicious and simple vegetarian braised eggplant recipes for a rich vegetarian day.
1. Vegetarian Braised Eggplant with Pepper
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Preparation
15 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Vegetarian Braised Eggplant Serves 3
Eggplant 600 gr (about 3 pieces) Shallots 4 bulbs Green onions 4 stalks Chili 1 piece Seasoning (salt/ monosodium glutamate/ vegetarian fish sauce/ pepper 10 gr
How to Prepare Vegetarian Braised Eggplant with Pepper
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Prepare the ingredients
After washing the eggplant, cut off the stem and do not peel the skin.
Then, slice the eggplant into round pieces about 1 – 1.5 cm thick.
Peel the shallots and chop them finely.
For the green onions, cut the leaves and the roots separately and chop both parts finely.
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Fry the eggplant
Heat a pan with a little oil, wait for the oil to heat up, then add the eggplant to fry.
Turn the eggplant regularly so that it doesn’t burn and looks more appealing.
Continue to fry and turn until the eggplant is lightly golden, then turn off the heat and remove the eggplant.
Note: When frying the eggplant, it should be fried just right, do not overcook it as it will become soggy.
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Braised Eggplant
First, place a pot on the stove, add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, then stir until the sugar dissolves.
When the sugar begins to dissolve, reduce the heat and continue stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved and turns a brownish-yellow color.
Next, add the shallots and the green onion roots and sauté until fragrant.
After mixing the ingredients well, add 200ml of water to the pan, stir, then add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 3 tablespoons of vegetarian fish sauce, and season to taste.
Once the seasoning is complete, add the fried eggplant and stir well to absorb the flavors, then simmer on low heat for 2 – 3 minutes before turning off the heat.
Finally, slice some chili to place on top and sprinkle with green onions and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, then serve on a plate to enjoy.
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Final Product
The braised eggplant has an enticing aroma, with the eggplant being soft and infused with a sweet and rich flavor, making it very suitable for light vegetarian meals.
2. Eggplant braised with chili sauce
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Preparation time
15 minutes
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Difficulty level
Easy
Ingredients for Eggplant braised with chili sauce Serves 2 people
Eggplant 2 pieces Fried tofu 15 pieces Leek 1 stalk Chili 1 piece Seasoning 10 gr (vegetarian fish sauce/ monosodium glutamate/ vegetarian seasoning/ soy sauce/ chili sauce)
How to make Eggplant braised with chili sauce
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Prepare the ingredients
For this dish, prepare the eggplant similarly to the previous dish. Wash the eggplant and cut it into diagonal slices about 1 – 1.5 cm thick.
For the leek, use both the green and white parts, cutting them into 3 – 4 cm pieces.
Crush the chili and cut it in half or chop it according to your preference.
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Fry the eggplant
First, heat a pan with oil until it boils, then add the chopped eggplant slices to fry.
Fry the eggplant until you can press it with chopsticks and it feels soft enough to take out.
Note: Because eggplant contains a lot of water, it cooks quickly and becomes soft easily, so when frying, you should pay attention to fry it just right, not overcook it to avoid it becoming mushy.
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Braised eggplant
Prepare a pot, add 1/2 cup of water along with 1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of color sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning powder, 1 tablespoon of monosodium glutamate, and 2 tablespoons of chili sauce.
Then stir well and remember to adjust the seasoning to suit your family’s taste.
Next, place the pot of sauce on the stove and heat it until boiling.
When the sauce boils, add the tofu first, as it absorbs the flavor the least among the prepared ingredients.
After adding the tofu for 30 seconds to 1 minute, arrange the eggplant on top of the tofu, followed by the chili and green onions. At this point, remember to keep the heat low and use a spoon to drizzle the sauce from the bottom evenly over the eggplant.
Finally, cover the pot and wait for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
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Final Product
The braised eggplant with chili sauce after completion has a rich flavor from the eggplant, and the sauce is flavorful. You can enjoy this dish with rice or vermicelli as well.
Tips for Choosing Good Eggplants: Young and fresh eggplants will be sweet and fragrant when cooked. If the eggplant is old, it will contain many seeds, and wilted eggplants have lost their subtle sweetness and reduce the quality of the dish. Therefore, we need to choose fresh eggplants by:
- When choosing eggplants, pay attention to the stem area of the fruit. If you see a white area between the stem and the skin of the eggplant connected, it means the eggplant is young, fresh, and good.
- Choose eggplants with green stems, as these are still fresh and will not turn black when braised.
- A good quality eggplant will have a firm and shiny skin, with a dark purple color.
- If the eggplant feels hard and the color changes from pink-purple to light purple, it is old and should not be purchased.
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With the simple ingredients and method above, TasteVN hopes you will have delicious vegetarian meals; wish you success.
*Refer to images and recipes from 2 YouTube channels TÚ LÊ MIỀN TÂY and Diệu Pháp Âm.
