Stir-fried Japanese Eggplants with Minced Pork and Thai Basil

Japanese eggplant is a type of long eggplant that has purple color. The skin of this eggplants are not as thick as the Aubergine. And the meat is tastier and easier to cook than Auberginen. 

In Thailand we also have long eggplant too, but in green. So I actually have many recipes in mind to cook these long eggplants. But I always ended up making this dish far too many times instead.  We love the sweet and creaminess taste, especially when combined with saltiness from the soy bean paste plus the aroma from basil leaves. Ummm... Yum!!! It is one of our family favorite! 😁

Ingredients: (2 servings)

~ 10 Japanese eggplants, sliced

~ 500 g. minced pork

~ 3 cloves garlic, minced

~ a handful of Thai basil (normal basil is also good too)

~ 2 tbsp soy bean paste

~ 1 tbsp soya sauce

~ 1 tbsp oyster sauce

~ 1 tbsp sugar

~ cooking oil 

How to:

✔️ There are 2 approaches in making this dish. If you want the eggplants to have a nice purple colour, not brown, you have to  deep-fry the sliced eggplants in high heat first, for 2-3 mins until the eggplants look soft, then set it aside. Otherwise, follow the steps below.    

✔️ Heat up the oil and fry garlic in medium heat until golden brown. Add pork and fry it in high heat until the pork is cooked.

✔️ Add eggplants and all the seasonings to the pan. If you didn’t fry the eggplants beforehand then cook the eggplants until it is soft. 

✔️ Add the basil and turn off the heat