Looking for an easy but tasty way of cooking eggplant? This Sautéed Eggplant method has the perfect flavor, balancing garlic with its savory and sweet tones!
I grew up in Thailand where eggplant is everywhere all year round. The beautiful deep purple color of fresh picked eggplant is to die for, but to be honest, they were once one of my least favorite vegetables.
They are chewy and tough if not not cooked properly, and that’s why I didn’t like them. I have tried cooking them in a lot of more complicated ways, but I decided to get back to simple.
For this Sautéed Eggplant recipe, the only other ingredients are garlic, soy sauce and sugar. You can put a lot of garlic if you are a garlic lover like I am, and you can control your own sweet and salt levels according to your liking.
The important thing for this Sautéed Eggplant is that the eggplant needs to be soft. When they are soft, they can absorb more flavor. I learned this from a dish we all loved when we lived in Taiwan a few years ago. However, the way they prepare eggplant is different than this.
To be able to preserve the color, they deep fry the eggplant in hot oil. The eggplant comes out perfectly beautiful and soft this way. As deep frying eggplants is way too complicated and not as healthy, I prefer this baking method.
By replacing the deep frying with baking, the result is not quite the same though. Baking just doesn’t keep the color nice and bright, but that doesn’t really matter to me.
No worries if you are living somewhere without an oven. When I figured out this method I was still living in Taiwan without an oven in the kitchen. So, I grilled eggplant in my regular frying pan with a little bit of oil instead.
I’ll write down how I grill them in the instructions below. When the eggplant is soft, you can season it with the flavor you like.
Ready to make Sautéed Eggplants with me, let me show you how!
Ingredients:
Note: feel free to use this as a guideline and adjust your own flavor.
- 4-5 long eggplants.
- One head of garlic (you can use less if you prefer, or more if you really like garlic)
- 3-4 TBSP (42-56 g) good cooking oil. 1 TBSP (28 g) for sauteing and 2-3 TBSP (28- 42 g) for baking ( I use avocado oil in this video, but most of the time I use coconut oil)
- 2 TBSP (28 g) soy sauce
- 2 TSP (10 g) sugar
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit (175 degrees celsius).
- Wash the eggplants, cut them into about 2 inch long chunks, then slice these in half. Note: if you use round eggplant, cut the pieces to about ½ inch thick.
- Rub the oil loosely into eggplant. (about 2-3 TBSP or 28-42 g)
drizzling oil on the eggplant
- Lay the pieces on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until soft. It may take more or less time–just check it after 25 minutes and you should know.
soft eggplant after baking
- Meanwhile, prepare the garlic. Peel, mince, and set it aside.
- When the eggplant is soft, heat the oil on medium heat and fry the garlic ‘til golden brown.
frying garlic ’til golden brown
- Put the eggplant in and give it a quick sauté. Add the soy sauce followed by the sugar, and sauté. Taste and adjust the flavor to your liking.
- Serve with a bowl of rice or as a side dish, and enjoy!
To grill the eggplants on a frying pan (instead of using an oven):
- On medium heat, grease the frying pan with a little bit of oil.
- Put the eggplant pieces facing down and cook, use a fork to compress them. When they are golden brown, turn and cook on the other side.
- Repeat until done, and use them according the recipe above.
Have you made Sautéed Eggplant like this before? Please share it with me–I’d like to hear about it!
