108. Crispy fried aubergine (V)

Simple homemade crispy aubergine

炸茄排

Cold, cold!! This morning, when I opened the blinds, the grass and the trees, even the walls in the garden were all covered by a layer of frost -- it reminded me of a winter back my home town just after snow, light snow. But the sun was out, bright but cold -- the typical winter sun. The surface of the whole garden was ‘shining’ in the sun. That brings me joy. :))

This month is a very important month in China -- the Chinese new year. The first celebration will actually start tomorrow! So… I am sorry that you are going to read all my posts about Chinese new year and ‘New Year food’. Yesterday, when we went to the shops, there were many red lanterns hanging, and Chinese food, packed in fancy red packages, was promoted everywhere. It was very nice to feel the festival atmosphere in a foreign country far far away from home. :))

But, for today, I am sharing a simple recipe before all the ‘heavy’ celebration cooking starts. :)) It is an aubergine dish, in Chinese it is called ‘qie pai’. I think the name and the actual cooking method originates from the western grilled ‘beef steak’. So there you go, not all of Chinese food is so ‘traditional’, this one is definitely ‘modern...ish’ (my grandma wouldn’t know how to make it), it does combine western cuisine’s elements. :))

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100. A typical Northeast Chinese dish --- “mess stew” with beef, tomato, aubergine and potato

As I was writing this post,  I realized that this my 100th recipe. :) I remember when I started writing, I was very worried if I was going to run out of recipes very shortly, but, hey, this is the number 100 now. :)) So thanks for my friends’ and family’s encouragement, and hope you enjoyed these recipes. :)

Ok, today’s recipe, a stewed dish. As I mentioned before, not everything in northeast Chinese cuisine is about stir-frying; the most representative dishes are actually stews. So here is one of the most common one -- “mess stew”.

-- Ha.. “Mess stew” is a direct translation from its original name in Chinese, “Luan dun”, which literally means "to put everything together to stew", without any particular "rules".
Different people, however, cook it differently. For example, if you look a bit around in the internet, you will find recipes that mix potato, pork, aubergine, green beans, cabbage, and many more things together. I have to admit that I have never tried this kind of mix before, in restaurants, it is almost impossible to find this dish, as it is so ‘homey’, so it is really difficult to say which ingredients are more ‘standard’.

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72. Chinese Steamed aubergine and potato mixed with soybean paste (V)

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Chinese steamed aubergine with potato and soybean paste

酱拌茄子、土豆

What a surprise -- summer came back for one more week, just when I already accepted that autumn is starting!! We thought we were coming to Italy for an extended summer, :)) but could not predict that Oxford would become so warm in the end of September.

Anyway, we dived into the historical, romantic... and hot Verona. If we had some hesitation for leaving ‘last part of summer’ in Oxford, we quickly left it behind as we immersed ourselves into centuries old streets, buildings with the bright sunshine.

I guess I should not completely pack up my summer recipes after all -- well, I really don’t want to, plus, I still haven’t mentioned many of my favorite dishes.

So this is one of my favorites, and one of the most popular ones in northeast China in summer -- steamed aubergine and potato mixed with soybean paste. I learned it from my mum, she learned from her mum, my grandma said she knew how to make it from her mother-in-law -- so definitely a traditional dish. It is very very easy to make, almost like salad (liang cai), but it does not need to be served cold.

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43. Chinese stir fried shredded aubergine

I was just thinking to start my whole Chinese food summer recipes, but, today… cloudy, raining, no sun… :( I just try to think it is summer cloud, summer rain -- then, it is romantic to have days like this in hot summer, no? :))) 

Today, it is another aubergine dish -- if you are not bored of aubergine already. :) It is not oil fried, so I think .. it is much lighter? Good for warm days. 

Don’t know if you have noticed, or if it is same as where you shop, the aubergines we can get at the market or in the supermarkets around us are much fresher these days, but much smaller compared to before-- price stayed the same though. :)) I like these ones, without much ‘seeds’ inside, tastes better. 

This dish is a very ‘homey’ one, called 'la chao qie si' in China, literally 'spicy stir fried aubergine strips'. I ‘rediscovered’ it in my northeast recipe book, which only time to time I flip over, then all the memories came back. I do remember my auntie and my parents made it. It is definitely not a fancy dish, so I don’t think our friends tried it when they dinned here as guests. But hey, if you are not in a mood for having oily dishes these days, this is a perfect choice. 

Aubergines are shredded  and stir-fried: no need to oil fry or steam the aubergines first. It is ‘quicker’ and ‘fresher’. But this way really makes a difference in terms of texture and taste, I feel I could almost taste the little tiny bits of spices from the orginal aubergine. Because of the nature of the aubergine, without frying or steaming first, the taste can be very plain, and the seasonings are not very easy to go in. So I put in a lot of garlic and a bit of five (/thirteen) spice powder, also added a little bit chilli in, but it is only for enriching the flavor, the dish is not very spicy. 

Shredded aubergines are stir fried in the wok, but the fire needs to be kept as medium, since the aubergines normally need to take time to get soft, we need avoid to get them burnt, some water is added in gradually. 

If you like, you can also add some shredded potato as well. 

Ingredients:

Aubergines (I used two aubergines)

Garlic, five spice powder, light soy sauce, cooking wine, crushed chilli, oil, salt, water, vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence or MSG (optional).  

Preparing:

1) Chop the aubergines into thin strips. I left the skins on, since it is very fresh, but did wash thoroughly. 

2) Chop around 4 garlic gloves. 

Cooking:

1) Place the wok on strong fire first, when the wok is hot, pour in around 3-4 tablespoons of oil. 

2) Then add in chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of crush chilli, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and 1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder. 

3) When the smell of the garlic comes out, turn down the fire to medium, and put chopped aubergines in the wok, quick stir well, allow the aubergine strips in contact with oil evenly.  (Aubergine can absorb oil very quickly, so from now on, the wok is quite dry -- be careful.)

4) Add in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2/3 teaspoon of salt, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water (if the inside of the wok is too dry, but not too much water though, coz in the end, the dish is a ‘dry’ dish.)

5) Until all of the aubergine strips are soft, but not totally ‘mashy’, add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence or MSG (optional), or remove it from the wok.

---- Serve!! 

 Good to have it with boiled rice. 

26. Chinese pickled aubergine salad

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Chinese aubergine salad

腌蒜茄子／凉拌茄子

It is not much of a recipe for a ‘Holiday dining table’ :)), but, it is a really nice side dish if you are having Chinese dinner.

Pickled vegetables in Northern China

Pickled vegetables are very common side dishes in North China, especially in winter in old days when there was lack of fresh vegetables.

Pickles in Northeast, however,  are very different from the ones in UK. Northeast pickles are salty, rather than sour (apart from pickled Chinese leaves). The theory is that their sharp salty taste can help eating more stable food, and it is easy to store such salty pickles for a long time.

My parents have forced me to reduce the amount of salt I take, they think it is too unhealthy, so Chinese pickles have also become one of my ‘must reduce things’.

Nowadays, Chinese people are making pickles less and less, especially given that there is no longer a need to store vegetables in winter, as people can now find all kinds of vegetables on the markets even in the coldest, heavy snowing day of the winter.

So, pickled aubergines has become one of those dishes that make me a bit nostalgic.

Pickled aubergine has always been one of

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15. Chinese fried stuffed aubergine with beef mince (Zha qie he)

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炸茄合

Chinese aubergine with beef mince

As requested by a good friend, I made this dish, and here is the recipe.

-- Another aubergine dish, this time is with meat mince. And it is another very homemade Chinese dish, not easy to find in restaurants. It takes slightly longer to prepare… so good for the weekend. I have to say that my dad is the best for this kind of dish, me…. you can see in the picture… I am a bit embarrassed that the final thing doesn't look very pretty… But I know how to make it... hope that can make up for the looks. :))

Chinese fried aubergine with meat mince

‘Zha qie he’ can be translated literally as ‘fry aubergine box’, or it can just be called ‘Qie he”. In any case, the ‘box’ here is actually ‘stuffed aubergine’. Oh, btw, you probably already get that ‘qie’ means aubergine , but we normally call them ‘qie zi’ . :)

For this recipe, Northeast people normally use pork mince, but in my ethnic group (see here), people normally use beef mince. We had a friend over the day I cooked this and she just recently turned into 'half-vegetarian', so I modified this meat mince, used meat free mince for her plate. So if you are vegetarian, this is your option.

The recipe

The dish is actually not that complicated at all, just half slice pieces aubergine, then stuff the prepared beef mince in it, and use flour paste to ‘block’ the mince from leaking out, then oil fry the whole thing. easy?:)) -- Here are the steps.

Ingredients

Aubergine (As I mentioned, the aubergines here are different from Chinese aubergines. So, I went to buy the slenderest ones I could find in the supermarket. I don’t know if it is just me or what, it seems this season the shape of the aubergines is different to the normal ‘fat’ ones - at least it is what I saw in different supermarkets.)

Beef mince (or pork mince, or meat free mince for your choice), oil, eggs, flour, cooking wine, light soy sauce, salt, five spice powder, sesame oil (optional).

Preparation

1） Preparing the filling:

In a bowl of beef mince, mix in one egg, 1 cup of flour (or corn flour), 1 tablespoon of cooking wine, 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, I teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoon of sesame oil (optional), 1 teaspoon of five spice powder, and around 4 tablespoons of oil (if you are using meet free mince, you need to put a bit more oil).

2）Preparing the flour paste:

Mix two cups of plain flour (or corn flour), one egg, water, a small pinch of salt, a few drops of light soy sauce into a nice thin paste, but not ‘waterish’.

3) Preparing the aubergine:

1) Slice the aubergine across into about (not more than) 1cm thick pieces. Then slice every piece from the middle,  but not slice through, keep one end still connected.

2)

Stuff prepared the mince into half sliced aubergine, slightly press the aubergine, make the mince flatly, evenly placed in the aubergine. The shape of the aubergine is still ‘flat’, not raising too much.

Cooking (or really just frying)

1) In a sauce pan ( I use a flat sauce pan for this kind of frying, coz I prefer shallow fry, it is normally done in a wok for deep frying).
2) Dip ‘stuffed’ aubergine pieces into the flour paste, pay attention to the bit where the mince is exposed --- use the paste to prevent the mince from ‘leaking’ out. (Some people would use the paste only on the part where the mince is exposed -- it is the same. But since I like the crispy surface, and don't like it when the aubergine absorbs lots of oil, I wrap the flour all around the aubergine).

3) Turn around the aubergine pieces time to time, until both sides turn into slightly golden colour and crispy -- it is ready for serving!

It is slightly heavy, good to go with boiled rice or beer. If you like, you can also prepare a little mix of salt and white pepper on the side, dip ‘qie he’ in, and just enjoy! :)) But you need to eat it soon after it is cooked, otherwise it will loose the crispiness.

Hope you like it. Saying that, I hope this is the one that my friend asked for, if not, another aubergine dish is on the way. :))

9. Chinese stir fried Aubergine and seafood

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Chinese aubergine and seafood

(/meat free mince for V option) (Haixian qiezi)

海鲜茄子

Love aubergine, all kinds of ways of cooking it. :)

We normally do shopping for fruit and vegetables in a small market in North Oxford on Saturdays; the sellers already know us well, and they always give us very good ‘offers’. Last week, we got lots of aubergines --- I laughed and said that we were going to cook plenty of Chinese aubergine recipes. So, here you go, this is one of them. :)

Chinese stir fried aubergine and seafood

The original  North East Chinese recipe for his dish uses aubergine and a little bit of fish. However, after having ‘Aubergine and seafood pot’ in Chinese restaurants over here, I improvised it-- without using the actual pot, and a touch of Northern Chinese taste. :))) It takes a little longer than a ‘quick -fix’, but it is perfectly suitable for a ‘weekend’s table’. I used to cook it with meat free mince for years (I was ‘half vegetarian’ back then).  So, meat free mince  is not bad at all as
vegetarian option.

The main part that I improvised in this dish is the way in which I fry the aubergine. Aubergines absorb too much oil during cooking, so instead of deep frying them until they are done, I fry them only until they are half done, and use a lid to cover the wok (this can help speeding up the cooking process, and reduce the oil absorption -- and it is also energy saving:)), then pour in some water to continue cooking until it is done. This way, the dish is less greasy, lower fat, :)), but the taste is not worse (to the contrary). In fact, since the aubergine is partly fried and partly steamed,  it mixes very well  with the taste of seafood (the aubergine  keeps on absorbing the seafood sauce while it is being cooked --- I am a little proud of myself for this -- don’t laugh at me. :))

O, and the seafood -- I always have a pack of ‘mixed seafood’ in the freezer, convenient for cooking dishes like this, or when you run out of ideas for cooking dinner, it can be stir fried on its own, or added to soup, noodles, or used as homemade pizza topping. Pretty much any ‘mixed seafood’ pack from  supermarkets are ok. We normally get it from a seafood supermarket in Oxford, sometimes it is seafood cocktails’ if there is no other options (like this dish).

Ok, here we go how I made it.:))

The recipe: Stir fried aubergine and seafood

Ingredients

Aubergine, mix seafood (or meat free mince for V option), coriander (optional)
Oil, cooking wine, salt, rice vinegar, white sugar, ginger, garlic, spring onion, sesame oil (optional)

Preparation

1) Chop the aubergine into (probably) 2cm width, 0.5cm thickness, and 5cm length strips. (It is not very important how wide or long, but definitely not too thick.)

2) Defrost the seafood if you use frozen one.

3) Chop the ginger and spring onion into strips, and garlic into slices.

4) Chop a little bit fresh coriander.

Cooking

I only used one wok this time, did not change or wash in between -  a bit different to normal ‘two steps cooking'.


1) In a wok, pour in enough oil to cover the bottom of the wok, with medium fire.

2) When the oil is relatively hot, put the chopped aubergine in, stir it, until every piece has touched the oil, cover it with the lid of the wok.
Lower down the fire a little bit, until the aubergine becomes softer.

3) Turn the fire up, then put a teaspoon of cooking wine, ginger, spring onion and garlic in, if it is too dry, pour in a little bit oil. (Here, you see, I am not that professional, only good for cooking in the small kitchen.:))

4) When the smell of the ginger, spring onion and garlic rising up, put the seafood in, stir well (on strong fire).

5) Then pour in a cup of water, half teaspoon of salt, a little drop of rice vinegar, and a little pinch of white sugar. Lower down the fire, let it keep on cooking (3-5 minutes probably).

6)Before taking everything out to a plate, (by now, the aubergine is very soft), pour in a couple of drops of sesame oil (optional), and the coriander (optional).

If you like coriander, it is really good for helping reducing the ‘oily’ taste, and bringing up the freshness, but put it in at the very end though.

This dish goes very well with boiled rice or white wine if you like.:)

1. Chinese recipe: Di San Xian (Three fresh vegetables)

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地三鲜

Chinese Di San Xian

Ok, this is the first recipe on this blog: a very popular 'home' recipe. :))

It is a veggie dish, in Chinese it is called ‘ Di San Xian’ , literally translated as ‘three fresh vegetable on the ground’. It is a very popular homemade dish in the North East of China. In fact, if you walk into a super posh restaurant (even in ) North East China, you may not find it.

You may only find it in small family run restaurants, it is a popular daily dish, and it is very cheap and very easy to make at home. I would say within 15-18 mins? :)

Aubergine, potato and green pepper

Di San Xian is a mix of  stir-fried aubergine, potato and green pepper. It’s called ‘fresh’ in original Chinese name  because these three vegetables used to be very seasonal, especially given the very obvious four seasons in the North East of China.

However, these vegetables here (in UK) are slightly different from the ones in China.


Starting with potato , there are lots of varieties on the supermarket shelves, but not all of them are suitable for cooking Chinese food (had lessons before :)). So now I tend to buy “Maris Piper” which will never get you wrong, but whenever I can I would prefer to use ‘New potato’ (let’s talk about it in another post). 

The aubergines we normally use in China are much more slender, sometimes I can get them from some Asia vegetable shops. If put side by side with the aubergines that are normally sold in the supermarket, a little distinctive taste can be found, not too much though. And if the aubergines are very fresh, I don’t normally peel them, just wash them properly. 

But the green pepper is way more different though, need to adapt when cooking it. I would prefer to use those green peppers with very thin skin, like those ‘Italian green peppers’ sold in the market in Spain. :) They can be cooked very quickly, almost just need to touch the heated oil, so that the original taste and the freshness of the pepper can be kept. Well ... we improvise. :)) In addition, I personally also like to put carrots in, for more varieties of nutritious and for the colourful presentation... which might make you tempted to eat, no? :))

Chinese Di San Xian Recipe

Enough talking, let’s start. :))

Ingredients

Vegetables: 2 or 3 medium size potatos , one good size aubergine , (or 3-4 slender ones), 2 small carrots , one green pepper.


oil (veg oil or soy oil) , salt, light soy sauce , rice vinegar , white sugar, cooking wine , corn flour , sichuan pepper powder and 5 (or 13) spices powder (if you don't have them, you can skip them)

Preparation

I say it is easy to cook, because it is mainly only three steps: 1) to prepare the vegetables (washing, peeling and chopping); 2) to fry the vegetables; 3) to mix the vegetables with the sauce. 
 
In details: 


1. Chop potato, aubergine, carrots in cubes (not necessary perfect cube at all :)), and green pepper in slices.
 
2. Put wok on medium fire, pour vegetable oil in, enough to cover at least 2cm of the bottom of the wok.
 
3. Put the potato cube in, fry it until the surface turns into a bit gold colour, and the middle is well cooked (not crunchy anymore). Take it out on a plate. 

4. Put the aubergine cube in, until the surface of the aubergine absorbs enough oil, and becomes soft because of the heat. Remove it to the plate with potato together.  Aubergine is known for absorbing lots of oil when cooking, otherwise it will get dry and burn. So this dish can be a bit ‘greasy’ because of the aubergine. If you want to shed some oil away , there are some tricks you can try: keep aubergines in the wok for a bit longer after it is done, but keep the fire very low, or put the aubergine in microwave for a few seconds, either way, some extra oil can come out, but not totally, as some oil kept in the aubergine can make it taste good) :). 


5. Put the carrots and green pepper in the remaining oil, light fry (but if you are using that thin skin type of green pepper, do not put it into the wok with carrots just yet). This can be very quick, so the crunchiness of the carrots and green pepper can be preserved. Then remove them to the plate with the rest of the vegetables. 

6. Clean the wok for the next step. 

-- You have done most of the ‘hard’ part, almost there now. :)))

6. In a small bowl, put a tea spoon corn flour in and mix it with water, using a spoon to stir it, until corn flour mixed well with water. Pour a small tea spoon of cooking wine, light soy sauce, one-third tea spoon of salt (maybe, depend your taste), a couple of drops of rice vinegar, and one-third tea spoon of white sugar. Stir well everything together (corn flour can quickly sink to the bottom)

Mixing the sauce

 
7. Put the wok back to the fire, this time the fire can be a bit stronger. Pour a little bit soy oil (or veg oil) in, say around 2 table spoon? :) Put a small pinch of sichuan pepper powder and 5 (or 13) spices powder into the oil (you skip the powders if you don't have it).


8. Then put all of pre-fried vegetables in, (you can put thin skin green peppers in now). Stir the vegetables well with the sichuan pepper and 5 (or 13) spices powder. Then pour the seasoning and corn flour mix in.
 

Adding in the vegetables

9. Stir everything together, when the liquid in the wok starts showing bubbles, it gets thicker, turn off the fire, remove the vegetables to a plate--- you done!!!


The surface of the vegetables is smooth, all the sauce has been soaked by the vegetables. If you think the aubergine is too soft, the carrots and green pepper just balance it out. It goes very well with plain boiled rice, but because of the ‘greasy’ from the aubergine, I normally prepare a plate of cool dish (Chinese salad?) to go it. 

It sounds like.. 9 steps, but really not that complicated, especially when you get used to cooking Chinese. :))

Let me know how it goes? :)