Jade and I were both craving Asian food.  I was wishing for spicy Asian aubergine like we had at the REAL Chinese restaurant downtown http://cookinginsens.com/2012/10/01/chinese-sunday/.

And Jade craved the crunch of fresh bean sprouts in a beef stir fry.  These were both attainable desires as, in addition to improving my refrigerators’ quality of life with the trip to France, I wheeled by Fresh Market on Saturday for a few exotic ingredients 🙂

With the help of the internet, I was able to guess what was in the spicy aubergine in order to duplicate the dish, but I did know that the aubergine was cut into strips.  Still, I decided on a chaos cut because I like the way it sounds 🙂

For the beef stir fry I had an interesting assortment of vegetables and some nice steak from France.

After that it was just a matter of tossing everything into a wok.

Everything was good and fresh tasting.  However, the aubergine was exceptional.  We’ve got to buy more aubergine before Jade’s vacation is finished!

Spicy Aubergine

Inspiration:  www.the foodmaven.com

3 small, narrow aubergine (Japanese if you can find them), quartered vertically and cut into chaos chunks

2 tbsp sambal oelek

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sake

1 tbsp sugar

7 tbsp peanut oil

1/2 lb ground pork

2 tbsp garlic, minced

2 tbsp ginger, minced

Scallions, sliced

Mix the soy sauce, sambal, vinegar, sake and sugar together.  Set aside.  Divide the peanut oil into 3 small bowls (3 tbsp, 3 tbsp, 1 tbsp).

Heat 3 tbsp oil to a wok, add half the eggplant and cook until it begins to brown.  Remove.  Add another 3 tbsp oil to the wok and cook the other half of the eggplant.  Remove.  Add the last tbsp of oil to the wok with the pork, garlic and ginger.  Stir fry for about 1-2 minutes.

Return the eggplant to the wok along with the chilli mixture, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes.

Sprinkle the sliced scallions on top and eat immediately.

Beef, Sprout and Vegetable Stir Fry

1 1/2 lb steak, thinly sliced into strips

1/4 cup scallions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp peanut oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 celery branch, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 inch ginger, slivered

1 cup snow peas

6 mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts

Mix the scallions, 2 garlic cloves, peppers, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil together and pour over the steak strips.  Marinated for at least 2 hours.

Mix the cornstarch with the water and set aside.

Put 2 tbsp of the peanut oil in a wok and cook the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and ginger until the onion starts to wilt.  Add the snow peas and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the bean sprouts and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove all the vegetables from the wok and set aside.

Add the remaining tbsp of oil to the wok and brown the steak strips in two batches.  Put all the meat back in the wok and add the cornstarch water, bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly.

Put the cooked vegetables in the wok and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.  Season with soy sauce and serve over rice.