My mom’s a huge gardener and she always has been. Even when she was a little kid, she spent her days helping my grandma in the garden. Now, even though she’s living in the middle of the city with a concrete patch for a backyard, she’s still growing as much as she can. I love going over to pick out fruits and vegetables. It’s kind of like having your own personal mini farm. And, as she always likes to remind me, it’s all completely organic.
The other day I went to pick up some shredded cheese (yes, I often get calls from my mom telling me to come home to pick up random groceries she’s boughten me) and I saw her eggplant plants. They were gorgeous. She gave me a particularly large one to take home and I was ridiculously excited. I decided to slice the eggplant into sticks and shallow fry it before tossing it in a honey garlic sauce. The benefits of high-heat shallow frying is two-fold: it ensures that the eggplant doesn’t absorb too much oil and also cooks it quickly so you have a somewhat crispy exterior and super-creamy interior.
These guys were so, so good. I texted my mom to tell her and her reply to me was: taste the freshness. Mike and I laughed for a good five minutes about it. But seriously, this eggplant is fresh!
Honey Garlic Eggplant Recipe
serves 2
- 1 large Japanese eggplant
- grapeseed oil for frying
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- toasted black sesame seeds, for garnish
- sliced green onions, for garnish
- fluffy white rice or grain of choice, to serve
Cut the eggplant into 3/4 inch sticks.
In a deep-sided skillet, heat up 1/2 inch of oil over medium to medium-high until it reaches 360°F. Fry eggplant in small batches, flipping if needed, until lightly golden brown, about two minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on a cooling rack.
In a small sauce pan, heat up a touch of oil and cook the garlic on medium heat until slightly golden, but not browned, 1-2 minutes. Add the honey, soy sauce and ground pepper. Turn the heat up to high so the honey-soy mixture bubbles, thickens and turns into caramel-sticky goodness.
Toss the eggplant with the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Enjoy immediately with rice or grain of choice.
I’m addicted to aubergine, I love when they are a bit chewy whilst being creamy and crisp. Must give this a go!
FoodNerd x
I love aubergine: sweet and earthy. This looks beautiful and I can only imagine it tastes just as good.
This looks incredible! Eggplant is big and beautiful in michigan right now so I will have to stock up!
Loving the simplicity of this! And that flaaaaavour! Yum!
Looks fantastic! Yay for eggplant season.
I have a similar recipe I love doing that involves a sweet soy sauce and fried shallots at the end. Delicious!
Oh eggplant grow so abundant at my auntie’s place that she often bring up a bucket filled with them. Soy sauce and sweetness are instant comforting things for me! so yummy!
I love anything eggplant, but I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the benefits of shallow frying… Is it actually healthier? It always seemed counter-intuitive to me… But perhaps I’ll have to give this a try, but with locally-grown eggplant, so that I can taste “the freshness”.
will you come over and make eggplant for me so that i’m not afraid of it anymore??!?!! this looks so good. but i’ve never prepared eggplant before, so i’m nervous!!!!
Now this is the most surprising comment that I’ve read online this year! Girl, you can cook anything, slice that thing up and throw it in a pan and let your mad skills do the rest ;) Although this recipe does look fantastic.
Eggplant is one of those veggies that I look at and go completely blank. I usually just give into the frustration and make eggplant fries, but I think my last little eggplant at home is getting a little shallow fry, honey garlic love tonight! Thank you for the delicious sounding recipe!