Szechuan Eggplant Recipe | Yummly (2024)

FAQs

What is Sichuan style eggplant? ›

Yu Xiang Qie Zi (Sichuan-Style Braised Eggplant With Pickled Chilies and Garlic) Recipe. Eggplant is stir-fried until tender and smoky, then braised with with pickled chiles, feremented chile-bean paste, black vinegar, scallions, ginger, and garlic.

3. Japanese and Chinese Eggplant

Characterized by their long, narrow shape, both Japanese and Chinese eggplant can be hard to differentiate. Japanese eggplant tends to have a much deeper purple color, while Chinese eggplant is usually lighter, more lavender-purple, and is sometimes even longer.

Yes, the skin of Chinese eggplant is tender and entirely edible. Unlike the thicker skin of some Western eggplants, Chinese eggplant's skin cooks down to a soft texture, so there's no need to peel it. It also adds color and additional nutrients to the dish.

One of the most popular was the long, thin, purple eggplant from Taiwan known as Ping Tung. This is an exceptional eggplant with sweet, pleasant tasting flesh. The plants are incredibly prolific and produce throughout the entire season. They are more disease resistant than other eggplants.

What's the difference between eggplant and Chinese eggplant? Chinese eggplants have fewer seeds than globes, which reduces their bitterness. And they have a thin skin. While they can be substituted for each other, globes may be less sweet, influencing the outcome of the final dish.

Global Eggplant Consumption

With nearly X thousand tons, China became the world's leading eggplant consuming country, making up X% of global consumption.

Eggplants are known to absorb a lot of fat while cooking. A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour. This helps to draw out moisture. Next, rinse and drain any liquid from the sliced eggplant, then pat dry before cooking.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

As in selecting any eggplant, look for those that have shiny skin without soft spots or blemishes. They should be firm to the touch. If the skin is dull, that means the Chinese eggplant is too ripe and should be avoided. When cut open, the skin should be white rather than yellow.

Bianca Eggplant

These large round oval eggplants are an Italian heirloom variety with a thin, light purple and white skin. The meat is sweet and creamy. Woods recommends this eggplant for stuffing or making eggplant Parmesan.

What does Sichuan style mean? ›

Szechuan cuisine, Szechwan cuisine, or Sichuan cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in Sichuan Province of southwestern China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of chili peppers, as well as the unique flavor of the Sichuan peppercorn (花椒).

Sichuan food is traditionally known for being full of spicy and umami flavors. But with a long and exciting history of food, travel, and cultural influences, there are many unique flavor combinations, ingredients, and styles of Sichuan cooking that all contribute to the cuisine we know and love.

ˈsēch-ˈwän. or Szechwan. ˈsech-ˌwän. ˈsesh- : of, relating to, or being a style of Chinese cooking that is spicy, oily, and especially peppery.

It is an extremely popular cuisine choice in China, with lots of people venturing to this region just to enjoy the spicy heat of the food. It is spicy and mouth numbing, and the numbing occurs through the use of Sichuan pepper, which comes from the prickly ash tree.