Eggplant with young ginger and oyster sauce
(There seems to be a lot of young ginger in Shanghai right now. If you wanted to use mature ginger just halve the amount and slice super thin)

for 2-3 ppl
2 asian eggplants slice on a bias or rollcut
(for a description of roll cutting see here : www.tsuji.ac.jp/hp/gihou/B...angiri.htm)

1 cup peanut oil
a good 4 inches of young ginger, peeled and slice into coins
1 small bunch Chinese chives cut into 2” segments (of regular chives, why not?)
2 Tbsp good quality oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee for example)
pinch of sugar.


After cutting the eggplant, heat the oil in a wok or good sized pot until very hot. Add the eggplant and cook, turning, until slightly browned and softened. Drain the eggplant. Drain the pan.
In the same pan on high heat (you don’t really need to add any extra oil) add the ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Put the eggplant back in the pan and stir. Add the Chinese chives and cook 20 seconds. Add the oyster sauce and sugar and cook 20 seconds more.

This is a pretty greasy dish. If you wanted to you could steam the eggplant instead of deep frying it.. but well.. that would be so not Chinese.