Chinese
Braised Eggplant and Tofu
Braised Eggplant and Tofu is Chinese home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Chinese eggplants
- 14 oz firm tofu
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp chili bean paste
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 4 scallions
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
How to cook it
- Cut the eggplant into wedges and the tofu into cubes.
- Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a large skillet and brown the tofu on all sides, then remove.
- Add the remaining oil and cook the eggplant until soft and golden, about 6 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, ginger, chili bean paste, soy sauce, hoisin, vinegar, sugar, and broth and simmer 5 minutes.
- Return the tofu, stir the cornstarch with 2 tbsp water, and add it to thicken the sauce, about 1 minute.
- Finish with sesame oil and scallions and serve over rice.
Serve it with
A Chinese dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Braised Eggplant and Tofu, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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Something to sip
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Braised Eggplant and Tofu carries gluten, soy, and sesame. It is free of the remaining 7 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | Yes | Turkey Lettuce Wraps |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | Yes | Nothing comparable without it yet |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | Yes | Mapo Tofu |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Pulses and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Braised Eggplant and Tofu takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on eggplant, tofu, and garlic.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from the United States.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.