Chinese Eggplant

You can omit the honey and use a soy sauce substitute to avoid any wheat or sugar if so desired.  If you don't care about such omissions and want the sauce even thicker, you can also throw in a tiny bit of cornstarch/water mix to thicken up the sauce. I serve this over some kind of brown rice.


Serves 2


INGREDIENTS 
chinese or japanese eggplants (4-5 mediums) cut into 1" slices
rice wine/vinegar (1 tablespoon)
garlic (6-8 cloves) roughly minced
fresh ginger (2 tablespoons) minced
chili sauce (2 tablespoons) 
soy sauce or substitute (4 tablespoons)
honey (dash) or preferred sweetener  
broth (2/3 cup)
scallions (3) minced
sesame oil (1 tablespoon)


DIRECTIONS

1. If you are using a rounder eggplant, cut it into 2″ cubes. You can cut long, skinny Japanese and Chinese eggplants into 1″ thick rounds.
2. Steam until tender, approximately 10 minutes, but not too soft – a knife should easily pierce it but not mush it in the process.  
3. Combine the broth, honey, soy sauce, chili sauce in a bowl.  Mix thoroughly.
4. Fry up the garlic and ginger in the sesame oil, throw the broth mix in, and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, uncovered, letting it thicken.
5. Add the eggplant and vinegar and stir gently from the bottom to coat with the sauce.
6. Slide onto a serving plate and garnish with scallion.