Spicy Eggplant with Fresh Basil

Spicy Eggplant with Fresh Basil

Turning 26 has been pretty great...

I danced... a lot.  When you're six feet tall, wearing heels significantly reduces the number of unwanted dance partners.

I witnessed my two girl friends rough up a guy for trash talking.  Maybe I exaggerate a little bit.  But it was awesome.

My little sister and I had brunch and bottomless mimosas until 5 in the evening.

I sipped on "Red Slippers" while listening to live jazz at the Culver Hotel, where the entire Munchkin cast stayed during the filming of the Wizard of Oz.  True story.

Most importantly, I got to spend time with best friends and family.  You know who you are...  I couldn't ask to know more beautiful people.


After all the celebrating this past weekend, it felt right to get back in the kitchen with my favorite vegetable, the eggplant.  While most of my summer garden is long gone, my eggplants keep growing like crazy.  I've pretty much eaten all the Eggplant Parmesan I can handle, so I decided to make something completely different.  This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious!  I'll be making this one again soon, maybe tomorrow?

Eggplant growing in my garden

Spicy Eggplant with Basil

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients:

• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoons crushed red pepper, to taste
• 2 medium eggplants, cubed
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce (i.e. tamari)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 20 leaves fresh basil, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. To cook the rice: rinse some of the starch from the rice in a mesh strainer and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a gentle boil.  Stir in the rice, cover, and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 15 minutes or until rice is tender.
2. In a deep skillet or wok, heat the peanut oil and the crushed red pepper for 10-15 seconds.  (I only used 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper and that was plenty!  You can always add more.)  
3. Add eggplant and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic, onion and bell pepper and stir-fry for 3 more minutes.  
4. Remove the skillet from the heat to add the vinegar and soy sauce.  Return the skillet to the heat and add brown sugar to the eggplant.  Stir-fry for a few minutes longer until the eggplant is tender.  (My eggplant pieces were pretty big, so I covered the skillet between stirrings).  
5. Remove the skillet from heat and toss with fresh basil leaves.  Serve hot over jasmine rice.