Twice-Cooked Eggplant Recipe [UPDATED 9/9/09]

I inadvertently made an awesome fab dish today. I do that sometimes. I'm an experimenter kind of cook. Can't make the same recipe twice cuz I'm always fiddling with it. Dangit! I didn't take a photo. [UPDATE: see below!!] It was beautiful. Take my word for it.

It sorta looked like this:

But darker. And yummier. Here's the thing about this dish you have to understand. Eggplant gets mushy. It was prededestined before the beginning of time to be mushy. And you know, it's not all that flavorful. So you fry it to get a little crispness to improve the texture and flavor. The broccoli and onions add crunch, to be a texture contrast to the preordained mushiness.

Twice Cooked Eggplant

3 Asian Eggplants (long skinny kind) - cut into 1/2" coins
1 cup Broccoli florets - small, lady bite size
1/2 c Onion - cut into 1/2" squares
Garlic (jar or fresh, but please, NOT garlic powder)
Soy Sauce

Heat up some extra light olive oil in a pan with a lid. (About 1/2" deep) When the oil is nice and hot, put the eggplants in, turning them over once so that they have a crunchy grilled look to them, like this:



While the eggplants are frying, put a little bit of water in another frying pan. Put the florets in them and steam for about a minute - sort of blanch them. You don't want the broccoli to be soft. Drain the water.

Put in a little olive oil and add the onions. Stir them until the onions start to get clear. You don't want them to be soft, either.



When the eggplants are done, add them to the broccoli and onions. Put about a teaspoon of garlic and a swigger* of soy sauce. Quick fry for a couple of minutes.



Taste it. Add a bit more soy if it needs it.

Serve with rice. I actually served them with scrambled eggs today and they were delish!



*swigger - that's my official cooking term for nod the soy bottle all over the pan so that there's a sprinkling all over.