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Eggplant with Thai Basil & Chicken

Name: Japanese Eggplant with Chicken & Thai Basil
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 8 ounces chicken breast ((thinly sliced)); 2 tablespoons water; 5 tablespoons vegetable oil ((plus 1 teaspoon for marinating the chicken)); 1½ teaspoons light soy sauce; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 2 Chinese or Japanese eggplants ((about 12-16 ounces/340-450g; cut on an angle into 1 1/2-inch wedges)); 3 cloves garlic ((sliced thinly)); 3 scallions ((sliced 1½ inches long on an angle, separated into white and green parts)); 1 bunch Thai basil or holy basil ((stems removed, about 1 cup loosely packed)); 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine ((or dry sherry cooking wine)); 2 teaspoons fish sauce; ½ teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon Thai thin soy sauce ((or light soy sauce)); 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce; ½ teaspoon sesame oil; ground white pepper; ¼ cup chicken stock ((hot))

by:

Bill

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Updated: 8/4/2021

Japanese Eggplant Stir-fry with Chicken & Basil, by thewoksoflife.com

This stir-fry of Eggplant with Chicken and Thai Basil involves many of my favorite things to eat, and it’s a quick and easy meal to boot.

The fragrant combination of aromatics, including Thai basil, wakes up your taste buds.

Add a little eggplant and chicken (or omit the meat to make this vegetarian), and you have a satisfying meal after less than 15 minutes at the stove!

Note: This recipe was originally published in August 2016. We’ve since updated it with clearer instructions and metric measurements. Enjoy!

Notes on Ingredients

We call for Japanese or Chinese eggplant in this recipe. They are generally more tender than regular globe eggplants, with fewer seeds.

Japanese eggplant has darker skin (similar in color to a regular globe eggplant), while Chinese eggplant has lighter purple skin. Both are long and thinly shaped.

Thai Eggplant Stir-fry with Chicken & Basil, by thewoksoflife.com

We have a great crop of eggplant in our garden this year, which is why we’re bringing this recipe back up from the archives!

If using eggplants with thick skin, like the regular large variety you find at your average grocery store, you can peel all or part of the skin off.

Similarly, we call for Thai basil or holy basil, but Italian Basil can also work in a pinch!

Cooking Eggplant with Less Oil

Now that we’ve gotten the finer points about eggplant and basil out of the way, we can talk about cooking eggplant.

Specifically, eggplants are little sponges that seem to absorb just as much oil as you add. For this reason, we refrain from deep frying it when we cook it at home. Instead, we use a dry fry method in the wok.

That said, restaurant-style eggplant dishes almost always rely on a deep or shallow fry. Consequently, Chinese eggplant dishes, while delicious, are often swimming in oil.

To lessen this problem, we use the dry fry method in our Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce here as well in this recipe.

Whether you’re buying Japanese or Chinese eggplants from your local Asian grocery store, picking them from the garden, or using another variety you find locally, take advantage of eggplant season, and enjoy this one!

Eggplant with Thai Basil & Chicken: Recipe Instructions

In a medium bowl, massage the chicken with the water until it is completely absorbed, and add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch until well incorporated. Set aside.

For more information and preparing chicken for stir fries, see Bill’s post on Chicken velveting 101.

Heat your wok over medium-high heat and coat it with 2 tablespoons of oil.

Spread the eggplant out evenly in the wok, and let sear with the cover on the wok for 2 minutes.

Remove the cover, turn the eggplant pieces over, and pour another tablespoon of oil around the perimeter.

Cover the wok, and turn heat to medium-low for another 2 minutes until the eggplant is just tender.

Next, increase the heat to high to cook the eggplant to a golden brown color—another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to your wok and heat until just smoking. Add the marinated chicken, and spread it around the wok.

Let it sear for 30 to 60 seconds (depending upon your burner capacity) on each side. Remove from the wok and set aside.

With the wok over high heat, add another tablespoon of oil, the garlic, the white parts of the scallions, and the Thai basil (or holy basil).

Stir-fry for 30 seconds, and add the chicken and eggplant.

Next, add the Shaoxing wine, and stir everything together.

Add the fish sauce, sugar, Thai thin soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper, and stir until everything is combined—about 1 minute. Next, add the green portion of the scallions.

Pour the hot chicken stock around the perimeter of the wok to deglaze it. Stir-fry until everything is well-combined, and most of the liquid has been absorbed by other ingredients. Serve with steamed jasmine rice!

Enjoy this eggplant with Thai basil and chicken while summer eggplants are abundant!

About

Bill

Bill Leung is the patriarch of The Woks of Life family, working on the blog alongside wife Judy and daughters Sarah and Kaitlin. Born in upstate New York, Bill comes from a long line of professional chefs. From his mother’s Cantonese kitchen to bussing tables, working as a line cook, and helping to run his parents’ restaurant, he offers lessons and techniques from over 50 years of cooking experience. Specializing in Cantonese recipes, American Chinese takeout (straight from the family restaurant days), and even non-Chinese recipes (from working in Borscht Belt resort kitchens), he continues to build what Bon Appétit has called “the Bible of Chinese Home Cooking.” Along with the rest of the family, Bill is a New York Times bestselling cookbook author and James Beard and IACP Award nominee, and has been developing recipes for over a decade.