INSPIRED BY LOTUS: CHINESE EGGPLANT WITH TOFU

A trip to Lotus Foods in the Strip always leads to this dish, because of those elegant svelte purple eggplants (which you never have to salt and drain) cook so beautifully.  And the tofu is so fresh it is still steaming.

This makes about enough for 2 or 3.

• Tofu (whatever kind you like) - cube and saute in nonstick pan (or in metal pan in oven at 450) until brown and crunchy on the outside - put aside and sprinkle with soy sauce - will add at the end.  You can cook this in the oven when you put in the other pan of vegetables. 
• 5 of this kind of eggplant - cube or slice in half rounds
• 2 red and/or green peppers - just cut them up 
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped finely
• Garlic and fresh ginger - peel both (about an inch of ginger) and chop finely
• You will want to cook some rice at the same time to have with this. 
• Have some chopped cilantro and scallion ready to throw on at the end

Sauce (double this if you love sauce, which I do):  

• 1/4 cp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 1/2 TB water
• few shakes of sesame oil (get hot sesame oil if you like it a bit spicy)
• 1/4 cp. chicken broth (bouillon from a cube or jar is fine but watch the saltiness)
• splash of dry sherry
• 1 tsp. sugar
• optional: 1 tsp. Chinese chili paste or any other spicy Asian sauce that you like

Mix these all together.

I do this in the oven (most likely to the horror of good Asian cooks) so preheat to 450.  Put several TB of vegetable or canola oil in a pan, let it heat up, and then add all the vegetables (save the garlic and ginger for later.) They are usually done in about 20 minutes - the eggplant takes longest. Shake the pan from time to time.  (If you want to keep the pepper more crunchy, you can add 5 minutes later.)  So fast!  

When done, stir in the garlic/ginger, and then pour over the sauce and put back in the oven.  Let it boil (so that it thickens) - you can add some TB of water if it's too thick or too salty.  I like to throw in a few sprinkles of rice vinegar at the end, but that's not necessary.  The cilantro and scallion are more necessary but not absolutely essential.