Szechuan Eggplant with Pork and Tofu

I recently found the recipe for spicy szechuan eggplant from About.com Chinese Food. I read the reviews and thought that it would be good to try as I had 1 eggplant wandering in my fridge. I don't even know what to cook with this lonely eggplant. As you may have guessed, I got very excited and bought all the ingredients needed to make this dish. I added tofu to this dish to give more different texture. I think this dish turned up perfect and very good for lunchbox.


Ingredients:

• 0.25 gr pork minced
• 2 big eggplants
• 1 small pack of classic tofu (diced and pan-fried)
• 1 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1.5 tbs chilli bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
• 1 tsp chilli paste with garlic (Indonesian sambal bawang)
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• spring onions (cut thinly)

Sauce:

•  0.5 cup chicken broth (Campbell's)
• 3 tbs kikkoman soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp sugar

Marinade:

• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp black pepper
• a pinch of cornstarch

Preparation:

1.  Dice the tofu into medium squares and pan-fry with olive oil for 5 mins each side (until they turn golden brown).
2. Marinate the pork minced with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Leave it while you are preparing others.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.
4. Cut the eggplant into long strips and pan fry with a very small amount of olive oil until the strips go soft and floppy. This can take up to 15 minutes.
5. Add olive oil to the wok and stir fry the minced garlic and bean sauce until fragrant. Add the marinated pork minced. Keep stir-frying until the pork is cooked.
6. Add the prepared sauce from step 3, the chilli paste with garlic and eggplant. Keep mixing them and add tofu last.
7. Cook for a few more minutes and stir the sesame oil.
8. Add a pinch of spring onions before serving.