When I went to Chinese BBQ restaurant, I had spicy grilled eggplant for the first time. I don’t know how to cook many eggplant dishes as they usually taste mushy, but as my chopsticks kept scoping out that grilled eggplant, I knew I have to learn how to make it and also, diversify my veggie cooking.. and show others who don’t like eggplant that it could be tasty, if cooked right!
QUICK TAKEAWAYS
- hot oil poured over spices is mainly to bring out the flavor, but it could make the dish sounds less healthy..
- slice through the eggplant before pouring the sauce on so the sauce soaks through fat eggplant, and flavor is “entrenched”
RECIPE
- 1 fat eggplant, so the sauce can stay on top
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 serrano (just for the color, can use 2 jalapenos or 2 serranoes)
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 1-2tbsp sesame seeds
- 1tbsp bbq spice (dry powder form)
- 1tsp cumin powder
- 1tsp salt
- 1-2tbsp soy sauce
- 1tbsp oyster sauce
- 3-4tbsp oil
STEP 1: brush eggplant with oil, air fry at 345F / 180C for 15mins till the eggplant surface is wrinkly. If the eggplant is too large for air fryer, can cut in half, tummy faces down for air-fry. But cutting in half might lose some eggplant moisture.
STEP 2: mince jalapeno(s), serrano(es), garlic cloves, put in bowl. Also put in sesame seeds, bbq spice, cumin powder.
STEP 3: heat up a few tbsp oil (or less) over medium-high heat, as smoke rises from oil, pour it over the bowl of spice. Stir the spice so all of them are evenly “kissed” by hot oil, bringing out fragrance.
STEP 4: in spice bowl, add 1tsp salt, 1-2tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp oyster sauce, mix well. Taste whether this is slightly saltier than usual, if not, add more soy sauce as the eggplant would “dilute” saltness.
STEP 5: bring eggplant out from air fryer, cut in half and slice its tummy without poking through the skin for a few times so as we pour the sauce in, the sauce goes IN the eggplant.
STEP 6: evenly lay the sauce over eggplant’s tummy, if there is extra sauce, save for future use (mix with noodle, make Szechuan chili chicken, more grilled eggplants, etc. The sauce is really fitting for a lot of dishes), keep refrigerated.
STEP 7: put eggplant with sauce back in air fryer, air-fry at 345F / 180C for another 8-10mins. Check at last 1-2mins to make sure the sauce is not burnt.
READY TO SERVE WHEN DONE!
