Vegan Fish-Flavored Eggplant

5 from 2 votes

One bite of this sweet, sour, and spicy Vegan Fish-Flavored Eggplant is sure to make you feel like your eating authentic Chinese food, no matter where you live!

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Total Time45

Course: Vegan Main Dish Recipes

Cuisine: Chinese

Diet: Vegan

Servings: servings

Calories: 122kcal

Author: Faith VanderMolen

Ingredients

2 long Asian eggplants long and skinny (1 ¼ lbs.)
Salt*
2 tablespoons oil*
1 ½ tablespoons Doubanjiang chili bean paste
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
4 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon crushed Sichuan peppercorns optional
¼ cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons coconut sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce**
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
4 Scallions sliced on the bias

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Chop eggplant into 1 x 2 inch pieces. Place the eggplant into a colander, and sprinkle with salt. Allow the eggplant to sweat for 30 minutes so that some of the moisture is released.
While the eggplant is sweating, prepare the ginger and garlic and measure out the remaining ingredients.
After 30 minutes, add 2 tablespoons of oil to a wok and let it heat up over medium-high heat. Sauté the eggplant until starting to brown, about 7 minutes. Add in the chili bean paste, ginger, garlic, and optional Sichuan peppercorns and continue to cook until you can smell the aroma of the spices.
Add in the vegetable broth and sugar and mix well.
In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot powder in 1 tablespoon of water. Then pour the mixture into the wok and allow the arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce.
Lastly add in the vinegar and green scallions and stir a couple more times.
Remove from the heat, plate, and serve over steamed rice!

Notes

*If you want to cut down on the oil in this recipe, feel free to not sweat the eggplant and then dry or water sauté the eggplant in the wok.
**Sub Tamari if gluten-free.

Nutrition