Sometimes we need to put on our thinking cap and think of ways to make our dishes more presentable and unique and, thus, more appetising. It may not be a totally new dish. But with a unique presentation it can be. An idea which came up was to use the brinjal as a food receptacle. Seems unique enough as I have not seen any of such food presentation before. But pineapple as a receptacle, YES! The difference is that brinjal is softer and does not hold so well as compared to the pineapple. Thus, we have to be more careful when handling the brinjal.
Ingredients:
- 1 brinjal
- 200 g minced pork
- 4 stalks of spring onion, cut into short pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- light soya sauce
- pepper
- salt
- cooking oil
Method:
- Wash and half the brinjal, lengthwise.
- Scoop out the flesh of the brinjal. (Be careful not to scoop too deep and make a hole in the skin.)
- Put the brinjal receptacle on a metal plate.
- Boil some water in the steamer.
- When the water is boiling place the metal plate into the steamer.
- Steam the brinjal receptacle for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the metal plate from the steamer when the brinjal is just soft and can hold up.
- Let the brinjal cool down.
- Heat up the wok with 3-4 tbsp of cooking oil.
- Saute the garlic.
- When the garlic is fragrant, add the minced pork and fry it till it is 3/4 cooked.
- Add in the flesh of the brinjal.
- Fry until the brinjal is soft and the minced pork is cooked.
- Season with light soy sauce, pepper and salt according to taste.
- Scoop the ingredients up into the steamed brinjal receptacle.
- Sprinkle the spring onion on top.
- Place the brinjal boat onto a serving plate.
- The dish is ready to be served.