Vegan Bunny Elle

Spiral-cut eggplants braised in a umami, sweet, and savory chili sauce with hearty chewy noodles, this one pot comfort meal packs so much flavor as well as nutrition.

No you don’t have eggplants, you might just need to try them prepared in a different way! Having personally turned many eggplant-haters’ views on this underrated vegetable 180, I recently made up this new, fun way to cook them and it’s been my go-to comfort meal especially in cold weathers.

The spiral cut is not just for a stunning visual presentation, it also creates many thin layers that’ll turn soft, tender, and silky after braising and soak up all that sauce so beautifully.

I like to add noodles in the pot as well so you get a full meal in just one go. I prefer thicker cut wheat noodles, udon, or tofu noodles for braising because they can withstand longer cooking time and won’t fall apart or become mushy compared to thinner noodles.

One Pot Braised Eggplant with Noodles

Spiral-cut eggplants braised in a umami, sweet, and savory chili sauce with hearty chewy noodles, this one pot comfort meal packs so much flavor as well as nutrition.

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Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2-3 Asian eggplant see notes
• 2 servings noodles of choice
• 1 tablespoon Dou Ban Jiang see notes
• 2-3 garlic cloves minced
• 3 small green chilis chopped
• 2 red chilis chopped
• 1 tablespoon vegan “oyster” sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 scallion chopped, for garnish
• Avocado oil for cooking
• Salt and white vinegar for soaking

Method

 

1. Place one chopstick on either side of the eggplant, make many thin cuts along the eggplant, flip it over, make many diagonal thin cuts on the other side;
2. Prepare a water bath with a good pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, make sure the water can submerge all your eggplants, use a plate to weight down the eggplants and let them soak for 20-30 minutes;
3. Meanwhile, mix together the garlic, chilis, vegan “oyster” sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch and water, whisk till combined;
4. Once eggplant is done soaking, dump the water and drain the eggplant;
5. In a braiser pan or large skillet, heat a drizzle of oil, saute the broad bean paste first until you see the red oil coming out;
6. Add in the eggplants around the pan, add the noodles to the center of the pan, pour in the sauce, cover, bring to a boil and lower the heat to keep simmering for 15 minutes;
7. Uncover, the eggplants should be tender at this point, let the sauce absorb for another minute then remove from heat, garnish with scallions;
8. Serve hot, enjoy!

Video

Notes

1. I highly recommend the Asian eggplant variety for this recipe. Asian eggplants are thin, long, much tenderer and have a very vibrant violet purple color, compared to the typical western large, round, and dark eggplant.
2. Dou Ban Jiang, is a traditional Chinese condiment made from fermented broad beans, chilis, and other aromatics, it has an amazingly  rich, umami, and spicy flavor that’s quite unipe. Check your local Asian markets for this ingredient and you can also get it online, this is the one I used.