What you see in the picture below is what home means to me: humble, delightful food that stirs my soul. The ingredients in this recipe do not boast a lot of flavour, but how they end up tantalising your taste buds is through every infused drop of seasoning. I’m bringing Grandma’s Eggplant and Pork Mince Stir Fry to YOUR kitchen and it’s a surefire way to give seemingly simple eggplants the love and attention they deserve!
The main reason why this dish is such a popular home-cook choice is because it really only needs eggplants and pork mince! Isn’t that just incredibly accessible? A quick stop to the local supermarket will ensure you have what you need!
Which eggplant should I use for this recipe?
One thing all eggplants have in common is their amazing sponge-like ability. They are a valued cooking ally that soak up ALL the oils and flavours they’re prepared with!
For this Eggplant and Pork Mince Stir Fry recipe, use any eggplant variation available. At home we tend to go for the thinner longer purple eggplants (sometimes referred to as Japanese or Asian eggplants) because of their sweeter flesh and tender skin.
I find that larger and wider eggplants of the darker skin variety have a tougher skin and milder flavour, which would work better in other dishes.
For preparing the eggplants
- 2 large eggplants or 4 Japanese eggplants
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- water
For stir frying
- 3 cloves garlic
- 200 g pork mince
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 3 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp premium oyster sauce
- 1 tsp pure sesame oil
- Cooking oil
How do I prepare the eggplant?
As tasty as cooked eggplant is, raw eggplant does brown rather quickly after you begin cutting it up. To slow this down, fill the sink or a large bowl with cold water and some salt before any prep work.
Begin by peeling the eggplant. In this step, the most important point to remember is to leave parts of the skin on. I know that sounds odd, but hear me out! Eggplant skin can have a bit of a chew when left on, while the flesh gets rather soft when cooked. Ideally, you have the best of both worlds. How do we achieve this? By peeling only part of the skin off!
Here's how to do it
Peel from one end of the eggplant to the other, then move to the right of the peeled skin. Leave the next part of skin on about the width of the previous peel. Move to the right of the unpeeled skin and peel it from top to bottom. Repeat until the whole eggplant has a striped pattern of skin on and skin off.
After the peeling, slice the eggplants 1 1/2 cm or 1/2″ thick and place each slice directly into the cold salted water.
Finely chop the garlic then drain the eggplants from the water and let it dry in a colander.
This is the fun part, where you get to see all the ingredients come to life!
Get your wok out and set it on a high heat. Add 5 tbsp cooking oil in. When the oil is hot, throw in the eggplants and add the salt. Make sure they get a good stir.
Add the water to let the eggplants soften faster. This should take roughly 5 minutes.
When mostly cooked, transfer the eggplants into a bowl. Save the water in the wok in a separate bowl to use as a foundation to the sauce.
Add 4 tbsp oil into the hot wok, giving it a minute to heat up. Add the garlic and allow for some to brown before adding in the mince. Use your stir frying utensil to separate the pork so that it stays minced rather than becoming a patty.
Season the mince by adding in the oyster sauce and chicken bouillon. Mix it well.
Pour the cooked eggplant back in and stir until all is well combined.
At this point, you can add the water saved from boiling the eggplants if you’d like it saucier.
Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
To finish it off, drizzle the sesame oil on top and stir it in.
Have your bowl of rice ready to accompany this as soon as it’s out of the wok!
Eggplant and Pork Mince Stir Fry
Ingredients
For preparing the eggplants
- 2 large eggplants or 4 Japanese eggplants
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- water
For stir frying
- 3 cloves garlic
- 200 g pork mince
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 3 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp premium oyster sauce
- 1 tsp pure sesame oil
- cooking oil
Instructions
- Fill a sink or a large bowl with cold water and add the salt.
- Peel the eggplant, leaving strips of unpeeled skin.
- Slice the eggplants 1 1/2 cm or 1/2″ thick and place each slice directly into the cold salted water.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Drain the eggplants from the water and let it dry in a colander.
- Get your wok or pan out and set it on a high heat. Add 5 tbsp cooking oil in.
- When the oil is hot, throw in the eggplants and add the salt. Stir the eggplants for an even cook.
- Add the water to let the eggplants soften faster. This should take roughly 5 minutes.
- Transfer the eggplants into a bowl. Save the water in the wok in a separate bowl to use as a foundation to the sauce.
- Add 4 tbsp oil into the hot wok, giving it a minute to heat up. Add the garlic and allow for some to brown before adding in the mince.
- Use your stir frying utensil to separate the pork so that it stays minced rather than becoming a patty.
- Season the mince by adding in the oyster sauce and chicken bouillon. Mix it in well.
- Pour the cooked eggplant back in and stir until all is well combined.
- Add the water saved from boiling the eggplants if you’d like it saucier. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- Drizzle the sesame oil on top and stir it in.
- Serve with rice.
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This sounds so flavorful and filling! Such a great dinner option.
Thanks, Demeter!
This is fortuitous because I actually have an eggplant in my refrigerator! Definitely need to make this!
Perfect! That was exactly what happened with us too! ;D
Yum! I love how easy and flavorful this recipe is!
Thanks, Kim!
I never know how to prepare eggplant … but I’m always tempted to pick up one of those beauties when I see them at the store. Now, I know what recipe I’m using!
Eggplant is wonderous in cooking! I hope you get a chance to use it in this recipe!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love using eggplants in m stir fries, so this is definitely something I am going to try.
No worries, Biana! I hope you enjoy it!
Well, I can see why this stir fry is so popular – I love using eggplants, too, but if I only need to add mince to them, then hey – what can be better, right? 🙂
That’s right! Mince will take this to a whole new level!