Dish of Beef & Eggplant
(click to enlarge)

Beef & Eggplant


Laos
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 2 main
**
30 min
Part		 This is a simple yet satisfying dish. As given here this dish is not chili hot, but spice it up if you like. It's a fairly dry recipe, so a good companion for dishes with sauce, but it can stand on its own.

10
12
2
3
2
2
20
oz
oz
cl

T
T

Beef, lean (1)  
Eggplant (2)
Garlic
Chillis (3)
Fish Sauce (4)
Oil
Thai Basil Leaves
Prep   -   (20 min)
  1. Dice BEEF, about 1/4 inch for roast or stew meat.
  2. Slice EGGPLANT about 3/8 inch thick and if over 1 inch cut into half moons. Hold in cold water with a little Citric Acid or Lemon Juice added to prevent discoloration.
  3. Crush GARLIC and chop fine.
  4. Seed CHILIS and remove membranes. Chop small.
  5. Pull BASIL LEAVES from stems and put them in a bowl of cold water to soak. This is so they stay green longer in the curry.
Run   -   (18 min)
  1. In a wok or spacious sauté pan heat Oil and fry Garlic until the first trace of color, then stir in Chilis and fry stirring for another minute or so.
  2. Add the Beef and fry stirring over high flame until it has lost all its raw color and all exuded liquid has evaproated.
  3. Stir in the Eggplant and Fish Sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring just a couple of times until eggplant is just tender - don't overdo it.
  4. Drain Basil Leave and quickly stir them in. Turn off heat and serve immediately with plenty of jasmine rice.
NOTES:

  1. Beef:

      I usually select Chuck (Shoulder) which is a good compromise between tenderness and flavor.

  2. Eggplant:

      Green Thai eggplants would be good, but if you don't have those Indian or any of the long narrow varieties will do fine. For details see our Eggplants page.

  3. Chilis:

      Fresnos are my chilis of choice, but others, both red and green, can be used. For details see our Thai Chilis page.

  4. Fish Sauce:

      This clear liquid is as essential to Southeast Asian cuisine as it was to Imperial Rome. For details see our Fish Sauce - Introduction page.
  5. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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