Food & Receipts

The Ultimate Eggplant Experience: Steamed, Shredded, and Stirred – A Simple Dish That Will Have Your Family Begging for More.

Without frying or stir-frying, this eggplant dish with a garlic sauce is a simple yet mouthwatering delight. The tender eggplant, coated in a sweet and mildly spicy garlic sauce, is an explosion of flavors that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you wanting more.

Administrator

5 September, 2025

When Eggplant Needs a Little Twist

In familiar family meals, eggplant often appears in stir-fries, grills, or braises. However, these dishes can become mundane, especially during hot and humid days. So, a little twist in the cooking method can elevate eggplant to a whole new level of deliciousness.

Instead of stir-frying eggplant with meat or fish sauce, simply steam it, shred it, and mix it with a spicy sauce made from garlic and chili. This results in a delicious vegetarian dish that is full of flavor and extremely “moreish.” The fun part about this dish is that the ingredients are simple, the cooking method is minimal, but the taste is addictive. A meal with just this eggplant dish, a bowl of soup, and hot rice is enough to warm the heart.

Easy-to-find Ingredients and an Even Simpler Recipe

What You’ll Need

500g long eggplants
1 green chili
5–6 bird’s eye chilies (adjust to your taste)
1 large clove of garlic
Basic seasonings: cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, seasoning powder, and MSG (optional)

The main ingredients for the garlic chili eggplant dish are eggplants, garlic, and green chili – all familiar and easily available in any home kitchen.

Instructions

Step 1: Steam the Eggplants

After rinsing the eggplants, remove the stems and steam the whole eggplants for about 10 minutes, until they are just tender. You can test this by piercing the eggplants with a skewer; if it goes through easily, they are ready. Don’t oversteam them, as you don’t want the eggplants to turn mushy and lose their natural texture. Once done, remove them from the steamer and let them cool, or rinse them under cold water to speed up the process.

Step 2: Make the Garlic Chili Sauce

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Rinse and slice the green chili and bird’s eye chilies. Heat some oil in a pan over low heat and add about two-thirds of the chopped garlic. Fry until the garlic turns golden. When the garlic becomes fragrant, add the remaining garlic and chilies, stirring quickly. Turn off the heat and season the mixture with a pinch of salt, soy sauce, seasoning powder, and MSG (if using). Mix well. At this point, the sauce will be aromatic, visually appealing, and mildly spicy.

Step 3: Shred and Mix the Eggplants

Once the eggplants have cooled down, use your hands to shred them lengthwise into bite-sized pieces. Place the shredded eggplants in a large bowl, pour the garlic chili sauce over them, and gently mix until the eggplants are well coated without becoming mushy. You can adjust the seasoning to your taste. Finally, plate the dish, adding a few fresh chili slices or some coriander leaves for garnish.

The steamed eggplants are shredded and mixed with a spicy sauce made from garlic and chilies, resulting in tender, flavorful strands.

A Simple Yet Delicious Vegetarian Dish

This eggplant dish has a natural sweetness and is full of flavor due to the mildly spicy sauce. The appeal of this dish lies not in its complexity but in the harmonious combination of tastes and aromas: the garlic is nutty and savory, the chilies add a pleasant heat, and the eggplants are soft and fragrant. All these elements come together to create a seemingly ordinary yet extremely “rice-friendly” dish.

It is a perfect choice for those seeking a vegetarian dish that is light, easy to cook, and healthy. Eggplants are not only inexpensive but also rich in fiber, low in calories, and good for digestion. Especially on busy days, this dish is a real “lifesaver” – it takes just 15 minutes to prepare, with no greasy mess or complicated preparations.

The final dish – a vegetarian treat so tasty that it will be gone in a flash when served with hot rice.

A Little Twist, A Lot of Fun

You might be familiar with braised eggplants with turmeric, grilled eggplants with scallion oil, or eggplants braised with beans. But with this steaming, shredding, and mixing method, you’ll have a new recipe in your cookbook. This dish is not only suitable for everyday meals but also great for vegetarian days or when you simply want to change things up for your family.

This dish requires no expensive ingredients or complicated cooking techniques, proving that delicious food can come from the simplest of ingredients and methods. If you’re not a fan of spicy food, feel free to replace the bird’s eye chilies with bell peppers or mild chilies to maintain the dish’s character without the heat. Additionally, sprinkling some toasted sesame seeds or fried shallots can enhance the dish’s appeal.

In Conclusion

The garlic chili eggplant dish embodies the spirit of Vietnamese family cuisine – simple, unpretentious, yet full of flavor and evoking a sense of familiarity. Every time you make this dish, your kitchen will be filled with wonderful aromas, and your everyday meals will become more poetic.

Try it today – and experience eggplants in a completely new, delicious, and surprising way!