Yu xiang aubergines with minced pork

📝 Ingredients

• 2 aubergines (about 300 g each)
• 300 g minced pork
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 3 garlic cloves + 15 g fresh ginger
• 3 spring onions
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 20 g caster sugar (about 1.5 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp cornflour + 150 ml cold water (for the sauce)
• 240 g jasmine rice + 380 ml water for cooking
• Black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Wok or large frying pan
• Saucepan with lid
• Colander
• Bowl
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. Rinse the jasmine rice in a sieve until the water runs almost clear. Put it in a saucepan with 380 ml water, bring to the boil, cover and cook for 12 min over very low heat. Then leave to rest for 10 min off the heat without lifting the lid.
2. Without peeling them, cut the aubergines into sticks about 1.5 cm thick and 6 cm long. Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Slice the spring onions, separating the white parts, finely chopped, from the green parts, cut into rings for serving.
3. Make the sauce in a bowl: mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, cornflour and the 150 ml cold water until the cornflour has completely dissolved. Keep the bowl near the hob: the final stage goes very quickly.
4. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the aubergines and sear for 4 min, turning them, until golden on all sides. Don't add more oil even if they soak it all up: they will release it as they cook.
5. Reduce to medium heat, cover and cook for another 6 min, stirring once: the steam softens the aubergines, which should become meltingly tender right through. Set aside on a plate.
6. In the same wok over high heat, cook the minced pork for 5 min, breaking it up with a spatula, until browned with no trace of pink. If it has released a lot of fat, remove some with kitchen paper. Add the garlic, ginger and the white parts of the spring onions and stir for 1 min.
7. Return the aubergines to the wok. Stir the sauce (the cornflour settles at the bottom), pour it in and let it bubble for 2 to 3 min over medium heat, stirring gently, until it thickens, turns glossy and coats the aubergines. Season with pepper.
8. Fluff up the rice with a fork and divide between 3 bowls. Top with the aubergines and pork, sprinkle with the green parts of the spring onions and serve immediately, piping hot.