Ingredients

This humble but delicious dish comes from a restaurant in Yueyang in northern Hunan. The cooking method, and the use of chilli and broad bean paste with ginger and garlic, have an affinity with the cooking of Sichuan to the northwest, while the serving, in a bao clay pot, is southern Cantonese in style. The addition of a little fresh scarlet chilli gives it a final, Hunanese stamp.

Serves 2

Prep 35min
Cook 15min

650g aubergines
Salt
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30min
75g minced pork
2tbsp chilli bean paste
2tsp finely chopped ginger
2tsp finely chopped garlic
1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced
150ml everyday stock or water
½ tsp dark soy sauce
2 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
Groundnut oil for deep-frying

Method

Peel the aubergines, then cut them in half lengthwise and then crosswise. Cut each quarter into chunks, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain for 30min. Drain the shiitakes and squeeze dry. Finely chop them and set aside.

Rinse and pat dry the aubergines. Heat the oil for deep-frying in the wok over a high flame until it reaches 180C. Add the aubergines and fry until they are tender and tinged with gold. Use a slotted spoon to remove the aubergines, shaking off the excess oil; set aside on kitchen paper. You may wish to do this in several batches.

Drain off all but 3 tsp of the oil and return the wok to a high flame. Add the pork and stir-fry as it separates and loses water content. Add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry until the oil is red.

Add the ginger, garlic, shiitakes and chilli and sizzle until they are fragrant. Pour in the stock, add the soy sauce and return the aubergines, and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Season to taste with salt if necessary.

Turn up heat, if necessary, to reduce the sauce. Add the spring onions and stir-fry until barely cooked. Remove the wok from heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve, preferably in a small clay pot.

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