Stir-fried eggplant with chicken (a twist on P.F. Chang’s stir-fried spicy eggplant recipe)

Name: Stir-fried eggplant with chicken (a twist on P.F. Chang’s stir-fried spicy eggplant recipe)
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons sesame oil (no canola oil is used as no deep frying in this recipe); 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 6 large cloves); 2 tablespoons sliced ginger; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds; 1 tablespoon cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons oyster sauce; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon fish sauce (instead of vinegar); 2 tablespoons date syrup (instead of the sugar and to induce some dark color as no bean sauce is used in this recipe); 2 tablespoons water; Chicken breasts cut into cubes and cooked separately in a pan with 1 tablespoon canola oil, salt and pepper; Skinned Eggplant sliced as desired; Carrots cut into stripes; Green onions; Steamed white rice; Chili flakes (no chili paste or spicy sauce to make it edible for children but these can be added as desired); Water to steam the eggplants and carrots (steaming is used to eliminate using a lot of oil in the recipe and to reduce time for sautéing eggplants and carrots in oil)

sphere @cook_22119795

For the sake of comparison, here are the ingredients that I did NOT use in my recipe but are used in P.F. Chang’s stir fried spicy eggplant (vegan) recipe:
Canola oil for deep frying
Spicy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon chili paste
1/2 teaspoon ground bean sauce

sphere @cook_22119795

Saved

Ingredients

2 tablespoonssesame oil (no canola oil is used as no deep frying in this recipe)
1 tablespoonminced garlic (about 6 large cloves)
2 tablespoonssliced ginger
1 tablespoonsesame seeds
1 tablespooncornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoonsoyster sauce
2 tablespoonssoy sauce
1 tablespoonfish sauce (instead of vinegar)
2 tablespoonsdate syrup (instead of the sugar and to induce some dark color as no bean sauce is used in this recipe)
2 tablespoonswater
Chicken breasts cut into cubes and cooked separately in a pan with 1 tablespoon canola oil, salt and pepper
Skinned Eggplant sliced as desired
Carrots cut into stripes
Green onions
Steamed white rice
Chili flakes (no chili paste or spicy sauce to make it edible for children but these can be added as desired)
Water to steam the eggplants and carrots (steaming is used to eliminate using a lot of oil in the recipe and to reduce time for sautéing eggplants and carrots in oil)

Saved

Steps

1

Steam the eggplants and the carrots separately
2

In a wok or large pan add the 2 tablespoons sesame oil, the garlic, the ginger and the sesame seeds.. Oh the fragrance!!😋😋
3

Sauté the steamed carrots first for about 1 minute then add steamed eggplants and drizzle some sesame oil on top. Carefully mix for about 5 minutes. Note that since steaming has been used, it reduces a lot the cooking time of the vegetables at this phase. Basically we are just coating them with flavor. You can vary the amount of time for steaming and make it less steaming but more sautéing time with oil or the opposite like what I did. I chose the latter to give it a healthier twist.
4

Now add the already chicken cubes on top of step 3.
5

Prepare the sauce by mixing the cornstarch with the water, adding the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chili flakes, and the date syrup. If you need to use more water you can add the amount of water remaining or less of it as desired.
6

Pour the sauce prepared in step 5 to step 4 and wait until it reduces
7

Slice green onions to garnish and serve with white steamed rice. Bon appetit!👌