Thai Basil Eggplant

I was so looking forward to a calm Friday evening, not going out anywhere...just staying in and cooking a decent meal, sipping on some sort of alcoholic beverage. This was a much needed relief after a long spurt of having guests in town and endless activity. Peace and quiet and a good, but easy, meal is just the cure for winding down. With a beautiful purple chinese eggplant from the Farmer's Market sitting in my refrigerator, making a thai basil eggplant dish seemed to be the perfect task for the evening.

Having never made thai basil eggplant before, I was surprised by how simple it was with relatively few ingredients. I had eaten it several times in the restaurant so recall fresh, bold flavors - so I had no idea what my version would be like given that it consisted of only a few simple ingredients!

Here's what I did:

Thai Basil Eggplant

Serves 1

1.5 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 bunch Thai basil, leaves picked from the stem
1.5 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 chinese eggplant
1 red chili pepper

Slice the eggplants into irregular shapes for easy turning in the pan. When it is sliced into a small disk, it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan and makes it difficult to flip or turn.

Chop garlic and slice chili peppers. Pick the leaves from the stem of the Thai basil.

Heat a pan or wok over high or medium high. Add oil, chili peppers and garlic. Stir until the garlic turn golden brown. Add eggplant and stir. Add a cup of water and cover the pan or wok with a lid. Keep the lid close until the eggplant is cooked. It should take about 5-7 minutes before the eggplant is done. The eggplant turns from white to translucent when it is done. Almost all of the water should have been evaporated at this point. If the eggplant is still not cooked, add a little bit more water and keep lid closed until the eggplant is ready. Add fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar and stir. Add Thai basil and quickly stir to heat the basil, so that it retains it color. Turn off heat immediately.

Serve hot with brown jasmine rice.

The funny thing was when I chopped and cooked the chili pepper - the apartment filled with an intoxicating "sting" that made my eyes water and breathing a bit more difficult. This to me was a bit of a scary sign that my dish would be unbearably spicy. I used a chili pepper that was more round than long and quite wrinkly. I had no idea what kind it was because it came in a mixed pepper bag in our vegetable shipment. Mind you, I did try the pepper before I put it in the dish, and it was spicy...but not unbearably so. Still, when I felt the wrath of the little pepper storm through the kitchen, I was a little afraid. LUCKILY, the dish and the heat was PERFECT. I like spicy, and spicy it was, but I didn't have to chug my cold sake that accompanied the dish.

This was so simple and so perfect for my relaxing night in.