This rich, flavorful General tso’s eggplant dish is not going to let you down! I am excited to show you I made it in just 25 minutes. Now, let’s jump right in 🙂
First, let’s peel the eggplant and cut it into long strips. I used Asian eggplant for this dish. They comes in a long shape and has a lighter taste and thinner skin. I think it’s okay to substitute with other kinds of eggplants if you can’t find the Asian ones.
Next, I rubbed salt onto the eggplants and let it sit for about 10 minutes to release water and drain. I learned this tip from my mom, the salt helps keep the eggplant from getting soggy and taste bitter.
Moving on, I coated the eggplant with flour, egg, potato starch, water mixture, and deep fried the eggplants until they are golden-brown and crispy (deep fry twice helps to make a nice crust).
It’s time for the seasoning! My version of the general Tso’s sauce is by whisking together sugar, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, ketchup and a bit water in a 3:1:1:1:2 ratio. It’s sweet, savory and yummy!
I like to heat the sauce under low heat until it starts to bubble and add in the deep-fried eggplant strips to simmer for a couple of minutes to absorb the flavor.
Another way is to pour the sauce into a big mixing bowl and toss in eggplants and roll them in the sauce. Now it’s time for the reward. Serve the General Tso’s eggplant with a touch of freshly chopped green onion and enjoy!
Here is how I made the delicious General Tso’s eggplant dish in just 25 minutes!
I hope you enjoy making this tasty general Tso’s eggplant at home. If you like this recipe, please leave a rating and share it with your friends!
- 1 medium eggplant, cut into long strips
- 2 stalks green onion, trimmed and chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt for marinating the eggplant
- a medium pot of oil for deep frying
- For the batter:
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons potato starch
- 2 eggs
- For the seasoning sauce:
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- Cut a eggplant into long strips, sprinkle with some salt and massage well with the eggplants, set aside for 10 minutes and drain the excessive water that comes out.
- Chop some fresh green onion and whisk sugar, water, vinegar, oyster sauce and ketchup as the sauce and set aside.
- Mix all-purpose flour, potato starch, water and egg in a big bowl into a smooth batter.
- Throw the eggplants into the bowl and coat evenly with the batter.
- Heat a medium pot of oil over high heat until reached temperature for deep frying, carefully add in the eggplants and deep fry for about 1 to 1.5 minutes until golden and crispy and remove from pan.
- Deep fry the eggplants again over high heat for about 30 secs, remove from pan and place on paper towels and set aside.
- In a non-stick pan, pour in the seasoning sauce and heat it with low heat for 2-3 minutes until the sauce starts to boil and thicken.
- Toss in the deep fried eggplant, half of the chopped green onion and gently stir to coat the sauce evenly onto the eggplant.
- Remove from pan, place on a plate, toss with the rest of the chopped green onion and serve.
Use low setting to heat up the sauce could help avoid burning the sauce, once the bubbles start to appear on the surface of the sauce, it's time to add in the eggplants.