This is the sort of dish you would expect to see being being bought in busy food courts by office workers on their lunch breaks – Charinya Ruecha of @charinyas_kitchen
This is a well-known Thai vegetable dish, but the variety of eggplant that drives the popularity of the dish in Thailand is not widely available in Australia. In Thailand you would expect to see the dominance of a luxurious long green eggplant, while the purple eggplant variety you find in supermarkets here would surprise many Thais when used as the key ingredient.
This is the sort of dish you would expect to see being being bought in busy food courts by office workers on their lunch breaks (ร้านข้าวแกง) as the ingredients are cheap and the dish can be whipped together with little time.
Adding to the appeal for customers with little money to spend on food, the dish offers a near perfect balance of vegetables, protein and (of course!) rice.Here’s what you will need.
Ingredients
- 300g eggplant
- 150 pork mince
- 5-6 chilli
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon salted soy beans
- 1 cup of Thai basil
- 1 cup of oil
Sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon seasoning sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup of water or chicken stock
Method
- Cut the eggplant into strips and soak in salt and water for 10 minutes
- Pound chilli and garlic
- Mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside
- Heat enough oil for frying the eggplant
- Drain the eggplant and pat to dry
- Fry the eggplant in hot oil for 2-3 minutes and set aside
- Remove the oil and leave 1/2 tablespoon in the wok
- Add pork mince and fry fir 3-4 minutes then add chilli and garlic. Fry until fragrant
- Add salted beans and sauce mix
- Add back the fried eggplant then add water or stock if it’s too dry
- Add Thai basil and fry for 2 minutes
Adjust the balance of sweet, spicy and salty elements to your liking.
Serve immediately over hot rice.
Check out Charinya’s awesome work here
