I don’t know where to start with this dish. Let’s just put it this way, it’s a Chinese classic but flexible enough to be adapted to different styles and flavor preferences. My intention here certainly is not to demonstrate a so-called “authentic” way of cooking this dish: authenticity is truly a messy concept--at least so based on my somewhat limited experience as a food studies student/scholar--and I don’t want to get into the arguments here. This is my mom’s way of making eggplant stir-fry under most occasions and I just follow. How simply is that?
What separates my mom’s cooking from that of others is she uses a lot of small green peppers, a produce commonly seen in my hometown. These peppers are way more spicier than those big fat ones we see in American supermarkets, so be careful if you are not that into hotness! Most southeast Asia cuisines use a similar kind but have an even more concentrated and stronger flavor.
So the other day I saw fresh Thai chili peppers on sale and bought a small bag. And I’m happy to use some with my eggplant stir-fry, turning it into a homey dish that resembles my mom’s cooking. Normally I don’t cook with that much oil, but deep-frying seems to be the only way I can think of to help eggplant maintain its radiant purple color throughout high-temperature cooking (tried microwave, steam, and pan-fry--neither really works).
What separates my mom’s cooking from that of others is she uses a lot of small green peppers, a produce commonly seen in my hometown. These peppers are way more spicier than those big fat ones we see in American supermarkets, so be careful if you are not that into hotness! Most southeast Asia cuisines use a similar kind but have an even more concentrated and stronger flavor.
So the other day I saw fresh Thai chili peppers on sale and bought a small bag. And I’m happy to use some with my eggplant stir-fry, turning it into a homey dish that resembles my mom’s cooking. Normally I don’t cook with that much oil, but deep-frying seems to be the only way I can think of to help eggplant maintain its radiant purple color throughout high-temperature cooking (tried microwave, steam, and pan-fry--neither really works).
0 comments:
Post a Comment