Thai basil eggplant with a crispy fried egg
Soft, saucy eggplant stir-fried with lots of garlic, chile and fresh basil, spooned over jasmine rice and topped with a lacy fried egg.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.54 a serving
- 700 calories
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 eggplant, large
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup fresh basil, leaves
From your pantry
- 1½ cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 700 calories, 18 g protein, 100 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $3.54 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice and bring it with 1½ cups water and the salt in a .
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.
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.
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.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn to low and cook 15 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Cut the eggplant into 1-inch chunks.
the garlic and the serrano and red pepper.
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.
Stir the soy sauce, hoisin, sugar and 3 tablespoons water together in a cup.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large over medium-high heat until .
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.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Fry the eggs until the edges are and and the whites are set, about 3 minutes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Set aside.
Add the rest of the oil and the eggplant. Cook, stirring every minute or so, until soft and , 6 to 8 minutes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: If it’s browned but still firm, add a splash of water and cover for 2 minutes to steam it through.Push the eggplant aside, add the garlic and serrano to the empty spot and stir 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
Add the red pepper and the sauce and until glossy and bubbling, about 2 minutes.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Turn off the heat and stir in the basil until it . Serve over the rice with the eggs on top.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
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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