Name: Chinese-Style Beef and Eggplant
Total time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1/4 cup vegetable oil; 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 12 ounces 85 percent lean ground beef; 1 red jalapeño chile, stemmed, halved, seeded, and sliced thin; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger; 2 tablespoons oyster sauce; 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar; 4 scallions, sliced thin on bias

Why This Recipe Works

Tossing eggplant with soy sauce after a thorough sauté seasons the vegetable without imparting any bitter flavor.

Before You Begin

We like to serve this dish over rice.

Instructions

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add eggplant and cook, stirring frequently, until tender and browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon soy sauce and transfer to plate.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add beef, jalapeño, garlic, and ginger and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon and stirring occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes.

Stir in oyster sauce, vinegar, and remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Return eggplant to skillet with beef and continue to cook until combined and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in half of scallions. Serve, sprinkled with remaining scallions.