I have very sweet memories of eggplant. I remember watching my dad cooking this deep purple vegetable in our tiny kitchen. He would firstly coat it with flour batter and a little ground Sichuan pepper. Then deep-fry it before stir-frying it with garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, etc. He’d always pick up one piece with chopsticks, then gently put in my mouth to taste. I still have a vivid recollection of the simple pleasure I got in those precious moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as I grew older, deep-fried eggplant became nothing more than a childhood memory, simply because deep-frying is not my preferred cooking method, and I always try to reduce the volume of oil in dishes as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant is, unfortunately, a vegetable often cooked in quite a lot of oil in order to achieve a softer, creamier texture. If stir-fried with just a little oil, it often stays hard and rubbery, very unpleasant to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n