Chinese style Vegetable Noodles & Eggplant

Hope everybody had a good weekend and everyone celebrating Thanksgiving had a good long weekend. We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at home and had family come over and stay with us on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was as usual, scrambling to get everything together before the week starts; shopping, laundry, mopping, cleaning etc.

This quick Chinese lunch came together in matter of minutes as we came home late from our shopping trip with grumbling tummies on Sunday. I didn’t use a lot of soy sauce or other seasonings and the final dishes tasted mild, so if you want some kick to the dish, add seasonings as per your taste.

These dishes go to this month’s IVAW: Chinese going on at Vaishali’s site Holy Cow.

Ingredients for Vegetable Noodles:

Noodles – I used tomato noodles, any asian style noodles can be used or even linguine or spaghetti would be good

Veggies – 2 cups, finely chopped (I used carrots, red & green peppers)
Scallions – 4, chopped (I used one huge Texas scallion)
Soy sauce – 1tbsp
Asian Chili sauce – ½ tsp (I used Sriracha)
Ginger – 1’ piece, finely minced
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan or wok; add ginger & garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
  
• Next add all the veggies and stir fry on medium-high flame until crisp tender, about 6-8 minutes. In the meantime prepare the noodles according to package directions.
  
• Once the veggies are tender, add soy sauce, chili sauce, salt & pepper. Finally add the noodles and toss them together. Serve hot.
  

I served the noodles with Sautéed eggplant in Black bean sauce. I had an eggplant dish from a Chinese take out in a mall and I absolutely loved it. Eggplant was creamy inside and the sauce was sooo yummy, I was thinking the whole I ate how to make it at home. I couldn’t figure it out and couldn’t find any recipes online, so if any of know how to make take-out style Eggplant dish, please leave a comment, I’d (or my tummy) really appreciate it. Coming to this recipe, it’s very simple with sautéed eggplants in store bought black bean & garlic sauce base.

Ingredients:
Japanese eggplants – 2, chopped into medium half moons
Onion – 1 small, chopped
Black bean & Garlic sauce – 1tbsp
Sugar – ½tsp
Corn starch – 1tsp
Sriracha sauce – 1-2 tsp
Ginger – 1” piece, finely minced
Garlic – 1 clove, minced
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a wok or sauté pan; add ginger & garlic until fragrant.
  
• Next add onions and sauté until translucent.
  
• Now add eggplant and stir fry on medium flame until eggplant is tender.
  
• Add the black bean sauce, sugar, chili sauce, salt & pepper along with ½ cup of water. Let the sauce come to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes.
  
• Mix 2tsp water in cornstarch in a separate bowl and add it to the pan. Simmer for 2 minutes and serve hot with noodles or fried rice.