Sweet, sour, spicy, fragrant eggplant

Here's what I did with the other eggplant:

It's basically 魚香茄子, "fish-fragrant eggplant", a really common eggplant dish in China that has no fish in it whatsoever.

Here's how I made it, told in the imperative voice.

1. Slice an eggplant (the long, magenta kind is best) into thin pieces as shown. Fry them with a little bit of vegetable oil (for Chinese food I always use oil that can take high-ish heat, usually safflower oil or grapeseed oil). Fry the eggplant until it starts to lose its water and look well-roasted (no bags under the eyes). 

2. Take the eggplant out of the pan, clean it if you have stuff stuck to the bottom.

3. Add more oil, chili flakes, and diced ginger (about a thumb). Stir for about 30 seconds, then add diced garlic (2 or 3 cloves). 

4. Add the eggplant again, and some fresh chopped red chili peppers (optional).

5. Before you did all that (I know, sorry), you should have prepared the sauce. Mix about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of black vinegar, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of white sugar (I'm just making these numbers up). 

6. Stir fry for a while, and when everything looks well-cooked and the flavors are all mixed together, add the sauce. Boosh!

7. When the sauce is well mixed-in, it might start to smoke a little bit. This isn't bad, but don't let it smoke too much or it means the sauce is burning (I think) and the flavor will change. Quick, go to step 8!

8. Add about half a cup of water, into which you already mixed a tablespoon or two of corn starch (or other starch). As you stir, you'll notice the sauce getting thicker because of the starch. From this point on, you want to watch how much more you fry it -- if too much water evaporates and the sauce gets too thick, you'll need to add more water. If it's too watery, of course, keep cooking it, and/or add more starch.

9. When the sauce is just about the right consistency, but still a little on the watery side, add chopped scallions. Just the green part, you can save the light green and white parts for fried rice later.

10. Stir a little longer, and then turn off the heat and add chopped basil. I don't know if anyone actually does this in China, but I think basil goes really well in this dish. Especially the purplish kind. 

11. The rice that I forgot to mention until now should also be done. My favorite kind of rice to have with Chinese food is basmati. Therefore my Chinese cooking is always fusion food.