Eggplant and Morning Glory Stir-fry
A home-style Hakka stir-fry with morning glory, brinjal and pork
- Cooking time45 mins
Calories310kcal
In this episode of Pasher Barir Ranna, Jessie Yung—chef and co-founder of Jessie Yung’s Kitchen—cooks a wholesome stir fry of eggplants with morning glory (kolmi shaak) that she grew up eating in her Hakka Chinese household in Calcutta.
Jessie runs her much loved cloud kitchen, Jessie Yung’s Kitchen, in Calcutta with her husband Peter and her two children. Started during the pandemic, Jessie’s takeaway-only menu has a dedicated following. They intentionally steer clear of usual Chinese restaurant fare, choosing instead to feature Hakka and Cantonese homestyle dishes, as well as dishes from the different parts of China and South-East Asia that Jessie learns on her travels.
This particular recipe from Hakka cuisine (客家菜), roughly translates to “stir-fried (炒) eggplant (茄子), morning glory (空心菜) and minced meat (肉碎). Jessie prefers to use a pork belly or a shoulder with some fat for the meat. She minces the meat by hand for a better texture. It is possible to use other meat too although the taste won’t be quite the same.
Being a Chinese stir-fry, Jessie stresses on the importance of having all components prepared beforehand because once the cooking starts, it all happens on high heat and at lightning pace. Jessie also cooks the eggplants and the morning glory separately in two stages and combines them in the end. This is to retain the colour of the morning glory which can easily turn a dull green when trying to cook everything together in one pan.
This dish uses a few ingredients which may not be in your pantry, such as the doban jiang, oyster sauce, dried shiitake mushrooms, etc. These are all readily available in New Market. We purchased them from Nasiruddin Sardar who runs Shop no. 39A in the spice lane inside New Market.
This dish is best served with short grained, fragrant, raw rice. Basmati is best avoided. We used super aromatic Chine Kamini rice on the day of filming but you could also use Gobindobhog. Jessie mentions that this eggplant-morning glory stir fry tastes even better the next day. Besides boiled rice, it is delicious with rice congee and even toast! We hope you give this a try.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
- 400 g minced pork (with fat)
- 500 g brinjal (4-cm cubes)
- 350 g morning glory (kolmi shaak, trimmed and cleaned)
- 35 g dried shiitake mushrooms
- 50 g vegetable oil
- 50 g garlic (5 g sliced; 45 g minced)
- 8 g green chillies (minced)
- 25 g toban djan (chilli bean sauce)
- 25 g oyster sauce
- 25 g soy sauce
- 7 g salt
- 15 g sugar
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 3 tsp cornflour
- 1 tsp vinegar
- water
Method
- Trim the silver skin from the pork, cut it in cubes, and mince using a cleaver.
- Soak the dried shiitake in hot water until they are rehydrated. Rinse well using a salt rub, and squeeze out all excess water.
- Chop them in bite-sized pieces. Coat with 1 tsp cornflour and 1 tsp oil and set aside.
- Trim the morning glory, discarding the tougher stalks. Soak in water for 15 mins to dislodge all the soil and dirt. Rinse well, and set it to drain over a colander. When dry, chop roughly.
- Slice two large cloves of garlic, and mince the rest. Mince green chillies.
- Divide the brinjal in 4-cm cubes. Soak in a solution of 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp vinegar and 1 L water for 15 mins.
- Make a slurry with 2 tsp cornflour.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Parboil the brinjal for 3–4 mins, then strain them over a colander.
- Heat the wok thoroughly. Add about 35 g vegetable oil.
- Add the pork mince and fry on high heat until brown.
- Add the minced garlic and chillies, and stir-fry for a minute. Add shiitake.
- Add toban djan, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. Continue stir-frying on high heat.
- Add the brinjal and about 5 g salt. Mix until well combined.
- When everything is well fried, remove from the heat and set aside.
- Wash your wok, and reheat it on high flame. Add 15 g vegetable oil.
- Mix in 2 g salt with the morning glory. Add this to the wok along with a splash of water.
- Stir-fry on high heat for 1–2 mins, until limp.
- Mix the minced meat mixture back in and stir to combine.
- Serve with jasmine rice, Mallifulo, or Chine Kamini rice, or with congee.
