Vegan spicy eggplant with kale and white Rice

At my local Thai restaurant I tasted a spicy eggplant dish that tasted sooo delicious I had to try and recreate it. I did a lot of research online and almost all recipes included oyster sauce or fish sauce so I decided to attempt re-creating the taste with a vegan friendly recipe.

The reason I'm so excited about how it turned out is because I had absolutely no recipe to follow. I used ingredients that I thought would taste well together and would also give me the same type of flavor as the dish I tried at the Thai restaurant. Also, cooking has always been my escape. It's the only activity I can do where I think of nothing else but chopping, mixing, tasting, mincing and anything else done through out the cooking process.  It's my therapy.

Main Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, rinsed and diced in large chunks
1 bunch of fresh kale, rinsed and cut into strips (below I've included instructions on how to prepare the kale for cooking)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Sauce Ingredients:
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons organic sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable broth
1/3 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
4 to 5 dried red hot chili peppers, make sure to soak in hot water for about 10 minutes prior to cooking with them
 
Ingredients prior to cooking:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




How to prepare the kale for cooking:  
Rinse kale well in large bowl of warm water; place in colander, drain
Discard any discolored leaves
To trim away tough stem ends, make "V-shaped" cut at stem end; discard tough stems (I found this picture online, not mine but this is how you remove the stems)

Prepare a chiffonade of the leaves by rolling them up jellyroll style.

Slice the rolled leaves crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices with chef's knife. Separate the kale into strips

How to cook the eggplant and kale:
Pour vegetable and sesame oils into a 12-inch nonstick frying pan or a 14-inch wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add eggplant and stir frequently until soft when pierced and lightly browned. Transfer the eggplant to paper towels to drain.

In the same hot pan/wok add the kale and saute until soft and wilted, add the cooked eggplant to the pan again and pour the cooked, thickened sauce to the pan (how to make the sauce is explained below). Mix all ingredients together until eggplant and kale are covered in the sauce.

How to make the sauce:
In a bowl, mix soy sauce, garlic, sugar, vinegar, vegetable broth, cornstarch, water, garlic, and chilies. Mix together  until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour into a saucepan and stir until mixture is simmering and thickened, about 2 minutes. Below what my sauce looked like after 2 minutes of simmering.

How to serve:
Serve the spicy eggplant and kale over cooked white rice or brown rice.

Hope you enjoy!

-V