Chinese eggplant with ground beef
Silky, saucy eggplant and beef in a garlicky sweet-sour chili sauce, a Sichuan-style classic that makes eggplant lovers out of anyone.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.64 a serving
- 650 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- 1 eggplant
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 3 stalks green onions, sliced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
From your pantry
- 2¾ cups water, divided
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 650 calories, 29 g protein, 69 g carbs and 28 g fat, and costs about $2.64 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear. Put it in a with 2¼ cups water and the salt and over high.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Cut the eggplant into 1-inch chunks. the garlic, grate the ginger and the green onions.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch and ⅓ cup water in a small bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large with a lid over medium-high. Add the eggplant and cook 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until browned on a few sides.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Eggplant drinks up oil. Don’t add more; the next step softens it with steam instead.Add 2 tablespoons water, cover, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until the eggplant is soft all the way through. Scoop it onto a plate.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Add the rest of the oil and the beef, and cook 6 to 7 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left. Spoon off any extra fat.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, ginger and chili garlic sauce for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium-high heat
Return the eggplant, stir the sauce and pour it in, and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until thick and glossy.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Serve over the rice with the green onions on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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