A couple of years ago, before I started this blog, I spent some time in London. My husband was working there, which gave me a terrific opportunity to experience the city, the culture, and the food. While England isn’t exactly known for its culinary delights, I did have a few terrific meals on that trip. I remember one night in particular when we stumbled into a Chinese restaurant somewhere near Leicester Square. I wish I could remember the name of the place. But I do remember what we ate, especially one dish. It was a sweet and sour eggplant with red bell peppers. I enjoyed the dish so much that I wrote it down in my little travel notebook, with my best guess as to what the ingredients were. I loved the flavor combination—sweet, sour, salty, and just a little bit spicy. Amazing.
When I came home, I spent a few days trying to replicate the flavor. On the third try, my husband smiled. I’d cracked the code. Don’t you love it when that happens?
The best part about this dish is that it’s healthy and really simple to make. When poured over rice it’s a complete entrée, or you can make it a side dish for a larger meal. I made it for my family yesterday as a light dinner. As I was cooking, I realized I hadn’t shared the recipe with you all yet. How rude! I can’t keep all of this awesome flavor to myself, it’s just too easy and yummy not to share. So here you go! 🙂
This recipe is pareve and vegan. You can make it gluten free by using a certified GF soy sauce. Make sure it’s certified; most soy sauce does contain gluten, but there are GF brands out there. Eden Organic Tamari Soy Sauce is gluten free, and it’s certified kosher when it has a Circle K on the label. Also, if you like spice, be sure to add some cayenne pepper to the mix. It’s really spicy (we like spicy), so I made it optional– add with care!
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Sweet and Sour Eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chinese or Japanese eggplants, cubed
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (for gluten free use a certified GF tamari sauce)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (for gluten free use a certified GF vinegar)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional, adds spiciness)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil (or another oil with a high smoke point)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups cooked long grain rice, white or brown (optional)
Instructions
- Place the cubed eggplant in a single layer on a cutting board or a bed of paper towels. Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and let stand.
- After about 30 minutes, water droplets will form on the surface of the eggplant.
- Rinse salt from the eggplant thoroughly and pat dry.
- Seed the bell pepper, then cut it into long thin slices. Cut the slices in half.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Reserve.
- In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch with 1 tbsp water till dissolved.
- Pour cornstarch liquid into reserved sauce, whisk till well combined.
- Heat oil in a skillet or wok over medium high till hot (not smoking). Add eggplant cubes and sauté till the edges begin to brown, 4-5 minutes.
- Add the red pepper slices and continue to sauté for 3-4 more minutes till the pepper slices are tender-crisp.
- Reduce heat to medium. Pour the reserved sauce over the top of the eggplant and peppers. Stir the sauce with the vegetables till they are evenly coated. Continue to stir till the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.
- Pour over rice, if serving as an entrée. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top of the eggplant and peppers. Serve.
Monique says
Amazing!!
I had to add more veggies to the pot because I kept picking at it before dinner and wasn’t sure there was enough to go around. I added a can of sliced mushrooms, and steamed broccoli to the mix. The sauce is amazing- thanks so much!
Tori Avey says
Great Monique! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Wendy Behnke says
Made this last night, it was so good! It is very difficult to find a vegan recipe my kids will eat and love but this one hit the mark! Thank you!
Terry says
This recipe looks amazingly delicious. Not complicated or time consuming at all. Very economical too. Thing is-in the list of ingredients you’ve listed rice vinegar. In the directions it’s listed as rice wine vinegar. I’m confused as to which one to use. Please get back to me asap cause I’m really dying to try it-I know I’m gonna love it.
Tori Avey says
Either one will work Terry! They are essentially the same thing, just labeled under different names. Enjoy!
2651Marine says
I just made this and it was amazing! I ended up using sesame seed oil instead of peanut oil but I’m sure either way would be just as awesome.
Paul O'Brien says
looks gorgeous, but appears simple – subscribe me!
Paul
Debra says
Excellent !! Will be using again .
Adriana A says
Wow, delicious. I made this today and it was a total hit. Easy, healthy and delicious 🙂 Thank you!
Tori Avey says
You’re welcome Adriana! 🙂
jenalee says
Hi hi! So I made this tonight and it looks so amazing! I can’t wait to try it. It smells relish! I added a couple of hand fils of spinach to go into it and am waiting on quinoia to finish cooking instead of rice. Way more protein and omega 3 . Overall just healthier than rice! Thanks for this yum recipe!
Sophie says
Just made this for lunch and it was delicious! Will definitely be making again. The only thing I changed in this recipe was adding fresh ginger.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! Keep up all the good things you do!
Tori Avey says
Glad to hear it Sophie! 🙂
shira kestenbaum says
Excellent! Thank you for posting. I added a little water and cooked it a bit longer in the sauce. I used half a hot pepper ( can’t eat bell peppers)
Rachel says
This is a great dish i made lots of times thank you! Now i have a question, i made this tonight and want to serve tomorrow night for shabbat meal, should i warm it up in the oven or just leave outside get to room trmp?!
Neal Shankman says
Many thanks for this simple, quick, *vegan* recipe – it was a massive success and will be part of our rotation, for sure. We love eggplant and I love having another healthy, non-parmesan context for it. We used a standard store-bought eggplant and skipped the salting/rinsing with no ill effects that we could perceive. Canola oil was also a fine substitute for peanut.
Tori Avey says
Great Neal! Thanks for reporting back. 🙂
Barb says
This looks exactly like a dish I get in my favorite asian restaurant. They only thing I’ll add is a couple hot peppers to spice it up a bit. So glad I found your blog/website and look forward to getting your weekly emails.
Chaz weco says
I made this dish acording to your mesurement and it came out too salty, now that I think about it 3 tabsp of soy is too much not eanogh vinaigre not very sweet and sour
Chaz weco says
I was thinking of making sweet and sour eggplant dish and your recipe is exactly what I was looking for, expet I am going to nadd a little ground meat for taste and protein.
Mary says
One of my favourite dishes. As it’s getting warmer here (Australia) and I don’t cook on Shabbes, I served it as a cold dish on a bed of Israeli cous cous to my lunchtime visitors last Shabbes. It was fantastic and enjoyed thoroughly by all. It’s on the menu again for my Shabbes visitors next week as it is so easy to prepare, looks and tastes great. Thanks Tori
Selena says
I can’t wait to make this recipe but will definitely need to double it for a family of 4. Can one use anything else other than cornstarch? Have you added anything other than seiten or tofu for protein to the recipe? thank you so much, Selena
moshe pupick says
Do Japanese eggplant really need to be salted? I find them not bitter like big Italian style eggplants, I feel washing away the salt also washes away the delicate sweet flavor of the asian variety of eggplant and make sthe water logged……Just sayin’
Tori Avey says
Hi Moshe– good question. The bitterness has more to do with the size than the variety. I’ve found the smaller the eggplant, the less prone they are to bitterness. While Japanese/Chinese eggplants are generally on the smaller side, certain varieties can grow quite large and long. So yes, if you are using small Japanese eggplants, you may not need to salt them. If they are larger eggplants, I would err on the side of caution and salt them.
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious says
I love the sound of this dish and I miss my Chinese food from back home, so many great restaurants to choose from when I lived back there.
Great post, defo a keeper…
Ryan Roberts says
I have been following your blog for a while now via facebook and salivating over many a picture of your delicious recipes. However it was not until recently that i decided to try my hand at one. The sweet and sour eggplant was a delicious masterpiece and i cant wait to try more-thank you!
Tori Avey says
So happy you liked the eggplant Ryan! A delicious masterpiece… that’s high praise! (blushing) Hope you get a chance to try more of my recipes. Welcome!