Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant
Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant is a light version of a traditional Chinese dish where the eggplant is typically deep fried. This is one of my favorite home-style Chinese dishes. I used to make this eggplant dish quite often, but didn’t like all the oil needed to fry the eggplant. Thankfully, I have an air fryer that eliminates the need to use a lot of oil. Not only is the cleanup a lot easier, but this dish is much healthier as well.
I love eggplant, and look forward to spying Asian eggplant at our local farmer’s market each year. Chinese people are very fond of chewy textures, so these Asian eggplants provide lots of eggplant skin to give this dish some chew.
One of the tricks I’ve read is that soaking eggplant in salt water helps flavor the eggplant and give the eggplant a silky texture. So, I soaked the eggplant in salt water for 15 minutes before air-frying it.
If you’ve ever fried eggplant, you know that it absorbs a lot of oil. So, air-frying is a great alternative if you’re looking to fry eggplant without all the extra oil. It took 15 minutes at 390 degrees to air-fry my eggplant. The skin was nice and firm/chewy and the flesh was tender. This contrasting texture is what I was looking for.
The aromatics for this air fried spicy Chinese eggplant dish are garlic, ginger, Szechuan peppercorns and Chinese chili paste.
You can keep this dish meatless, or add ground turkey (or other ground meat) as I did for some protein. I marinated the ground turkey with soy sauce and Chinese rice wine for 15 minutes (to save time, I did this while the eggplant was in the air-fryer). A little sugar, Chinese black vinegar and sesame oil are added towards the end of cooking, which rounds out the flavor in this dish.
Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant
Ingredients
Air Fried Eggplant
-
1
pound
Asian eggplant -
1
tablespoon
kosher salt -
1
tablespoon
oil
Spicy Eggplant Meat Sauce
-
1/2
pound
ground turkey -
2
teaspoons
soy sauce -
1
teaspoon
Chinese rice wine
sherry can be substituted -
1
tablespoon
oil -
1
tablespoon
garlic
minced -
1
tablespoon
ginger
skin removed, minced -
1/2
teaspoon
Szechuan peppercorns
crushed -
1
tablespoon
Chinese chili paste
I used Hunan chili paste -
1
tablespoon
Chinese rice wine -
2
teaspoons
sugar -
2
tablespoons
Chinese black vinegar
balsamic vinegar can be substituted -
1
teaspoon
cornstarch -
1/2
teaspoon
sesame oil -
1
scallion
chopped
Instructions
Air Fried Eggplant
-
Trim tops off eggplant. Cut eggplant into 3/4″ thick pieces, about 3″ in length.
-
Place in a bowl. Cover with cold water and 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Let sit 15 minutes.
-
Drain eggplant, rinse under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels.
-
Return eggplant to dry bowl. Toss with one tablespoon oil.
-
Air Fry eggplant at 390-400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until inside flesh is tender.
Spicy Eggplant Meat Sauce
-
While eggplant is air-frying, prepare Eggplant Meat Sauce.
-
Marinade ground turkey with soy sauce and 1 teaspoon rice wine for 15 minutes.
-
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large skillet.
-
Add garlic and ginger; stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add crushed Szechuan peppercorns and chili paste; cook for another minute.
-
Add marinated meat and stir-fry until brown.
-
Add rice wine, sugar, vinegar, and 3 tablespoons water. Bring to a boil; then reduce heat and add air-fried eggplant. Toss and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
-
Mix cornstarch with 2 teaspoons cold water; stir into eggplant to thicken sauce.
-
Drizzle with sesame oil and toss. Garnish with chopped scallions.
Nutrition Facts
Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant
Amount Per Serving
Calories 209
Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Cholesterol 42mg14%
Sodium 211mg9%
Potassium 395mg11%
Carbohydrates 12g4%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 7g8%
Protein 12g24%
Vitamin A 97IU2%
Vitamin C 4mg5%
Calcium 26mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
If you like this Chinese eggplant dish, you might also like:
Asian Grilled Eggplant with Soy Sesame Sauce
