Ah-Hing's Eggplant

      I really love eggplant, it's one of my favorite vegetables and something I often order at my local Chinese Restaurant.  This recipe piqued my interest because it seemed easily adaptable to dutch oven cooking and you don't have to salt the eggplant beforehand, the moisture helps the eggplant steam as it cooks.  The gentleman who posted this recipe on The Daily Meal wrote that when his family moved to Hong Kong in the eighties, the Chinese woman who lived with them, Ah Hing, made this delicious dish on a regular basis.  All you really have to do is mix the ingredients in your dutch oven and cook at a high temperature for 20-30 minutes.  You can peel the eggplant but you really don't have to, I like the skin on, especially with the smaller Japanese variety.  In my 10 inch oven, I baked it with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and the lid covered with 24 briquettes.  So tender and melt in your mouth good, serve this elegant dish with rice and garnish with a little chopped scallion.  I'm sure you could easily double the recipe, file this one away for when you have a bumper crop of eggplant in your garden.

Ah-Hing's Eggplant
1 large eggplant OR 4-5 small Japanese eggplant cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tblsp sesame oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed
1 packet or cube of beef bouillon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

     Lightly oil or spray dutch oven.
     Toss eggplant in dutch oven with garlic, bouillon, sesame oil, salt and pepper.
     Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until eggplant is tender.
     Serve with white rice and garnish with chopped scallions.
     Makes 2-4 servings.

Toss all ingredients in your dutch oven

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes

Melt in your mouth delicious