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Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

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Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

Szechuan Eggplant or sichuan eggplant refers to eggplant cooked the Chinese (specifically Szechuan province) way in a delicious Szechuan sauce. This Szechuan Eggplant recipe makes a very quick side dish for vegetable fried rice or noodles.

Making a side dish for Vegetable Fried Rice (or noodles) usually leaves me in a cloud of flour dust, crankiness due to the heat of the oil I need to deep fry stuff in (you know, for gobi manchurian and such) and the humidity in Singapore doesn’t help matters much. While I would definitely agree that a finished Gobi Manchurian or Chilli Paneer is a thing of beauty and deliciousness, it’s not something I would make often simply because of the number of steps and the chances of messing up the kitchen and my hair (yes, I went there).

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

This Szechuan Eggplant Recipe is a boon on such days. It’s so very easy to put together and tastes great and takes all of 20 mins to cook up. If you are not a fan of eggplant, may I take a few mins and try to convert you? No? Ok then, try Mushroom Szechuan or Tofu Szechuan or oh, a Paneer Szechuan. Pretty much any vegetable can be customized and made using the same basic recipe for Szechuan sauce that I have given below. The recipe idea is from food  network.

Other Chinese-inspired recipes that I love:
Szechuan vegetables
Chilli prawns
Dry chilli chicken

Hungry yet? Ok, on to the Sichuan Eggplant Recipe now!

5.0 from 3 reviews
Szechuan Eggplant Recipe
 
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This is a very easy Szechuan eggplant recipe inspired by the cuisine of the Chinese province of Szechuan. The eggplant is cooked in a delicious sauce and makes for a great side dish to fried rice or noodles.
Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian Sides
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 3 cups eggplant cut into 1" wide wedges or cubes
  • 5-6 shallots or pearl onions
  • 1 tsp of minced garlic
  • 1 tsp of red red chilli sauce (Sriracha, Maggi, anything works) or chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp of soya sauce
  • 1 tsp of regular white vinegar
  • 1 tsp of cornflour or corn starch
  • ½ tsp of brown sugar (or jaggery)
  • 1 small bunch of coriander leaves / cilantro
  • ½ tsp of black pepper powder
  • 2 tbsp of sesame oil (Indian gingelly oil) or peanut oil
  • 1 cup water
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a wide pan and when it starts to smoke, add the eggplant in 2 batches, frying until sticky and brown.
  2. Add salt and pepper to this, drain and set aside
  3. In the same pan, add a few more drops of oil if required and fry the shallots until soft.
  4. To this, add the red chilli sauce (or flakes) and minced garlic. Saute for a few seconds
  5. Meanwhile, mix the soya sauce, vinegar, corn starch, sugar, and some salt in a bowl to make the Szechuan sauce
  6. Add this to the shallot mixture and cook on medium-high heat until it starts to bubble
  7. Tip in the fried eggplant and mix well until the sauce coats the eggplant
  8. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with fried rice or noodles. Goes great even with plain steamed rice

Step by Step Pictures to Make Szechuan Eggplant

1. Heat oil and fry the eggplant in 2-3 batches

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

… until soft, browned, and sticky. Add salt and pepper, drain and set aside.

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

2. In same pan, add more oil if needed, and fry the shallots.

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

3. Add chilli sauce and minced garlic and saute some more.

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

4. Meanwhile, make the Schezwan Sauce by mixing the corn starch, soya sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and some salt

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step
Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

5. Add water to the shallot mixture and top off with the Schezwan Sauce

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step
Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

6. When it boils and starts bubbling, add the eggplant

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

7. Mix well and cook through until sauce coats the eggplant fully.

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step

Notes:

  • You can deep-fry the eggplant until crisp and proceed with the recipe. If served immediately, this will give the dish a nice texture
  • You can use spring onions or regular purple onions (scallions, green onions) instead of the shallots for a different flavour
  • Use the Asian eggplant for best results. They are long and purple. If not available where you live, use the regular fat eggplant or smaller purple Indian brinjal
  • You can add some minced ginger along with the garlic. For some reason, I felt like omitting ginger so I did

For Szechuan Eggplant recipe in Spanish, French, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.

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  1. did this as. quick dish for dinner today. I’m not even a good cook. came out real good. family loved it! might become a regular dish.

    Reply

  2. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
    It’s awesome! So delicious!
    Has become a regular dish in our home.

    Reply

  3. Great recipe. I actually doubled it because I had just enough eggplant but had a few mushrooms to do away with. I quartered the mushrooms and added them and two more tbsp of peanut oil when the eggplant was half done.

    Just a word of caution. There is a cup of water in the ingredient list that is not included in the boxed instructions that get printed when you click the print button. I realized later that the cup of water is included in the instructions that included pictures. I didn’t use the water and the sauce turned out very thick, but yummy nonetheless.

    Tip: chop or slice the shallots. I used pearl onions whole so which is fine as they are small. Might be obvious for most, not so much for some.

    Reply

  6. I love this recipe a lot nags…I remember when we went to Vegas about 8 years ago, I stepped in to the Panda Express on the strip and they had this amazing fried rice with Schezwan Eggplant. I have never ever tasted something that yummy and strangely no other branch of Panda Express had it since. I was craving for it many years and your post reminded me of that amazing trip!!!
    Shobha

    Reply

  7. Hi I just made this and it was wonderful! I wanted to make it for my lunch at work though so I used a really big pan doubled the amount of sauce, let it coat the aubergines and then added rice and fried the rice with the aubergines and the sauce, the rice soaked up all the flavour from the pan so I will be having really nice lunch at work this week. Thanks for this recipe, I love discovering new things to do with aubergine!

    Reply

  9. Delicious! Made this wuth basmati rice and Sriracha mushrooms and was in heaven. The only tweak I will make to this next time I cook this would be to exclude any added salt as the soy, vinegar and Sriracha provided enough taste.
    A ridiculously easy recipe with beautifulresults:)

    Reply
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