HG's Stir Fried Eggplant

Good afternoon! Marching right along through the week and feeling great about it! Hopefully you're in the same boat as I am in that regard. Without further ado, the recipe!


Have you ever heard of the website Hungry Girl? It's a fantastic brand created by award willing author Lisa Lillien. This website has everything under the sun from restaurant guides and food news to recipe makeovers. I don't know how this brilliant woman came up with this brand but she's pure genius!


Last week my lovely boss Jean gave me a beautiful Japanese eggplant from her garden and frankly I was at a loss as to what to do with it. I could use it for eggplant parm, but I cook that so often. I could use it for Ratatouille but I didn't have any of the ingredients. I had just come from a particularly strenuous workout class and my stomach was rumbling. Thanks to Lisa Lillien, I now had an inspiration!


HG's Stir Fried Eggplant (and Zucchini)

*I'm so sorry about the picture looking blurry, it was actually the steam rising up from the bowl

2 C peeled and cubed eggplant
*2 C peeled and cubed zucchini
Cooking spray
2 garlic cloves, minced


For the sauce:


1 Tbsp cornstarch *I ran out of cornstarch so I subbed 1 Tbsp flour
1/4 C cold water
1 packet no-calorie sweetener
*1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce (HG suggests sweet chili sauce but where's the fun in that?)
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tsp toasted sesame oil
Pinch red pepper flake
*3 Tbsp scallions


Spray a deep skillet or wok with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat. Cook your eggplant and/or zucchini until tender. My eggplant didn't yield very much, plus I had a zucchini just sitting in my fridge with no plan so I decided to add it into the pan. Held up to the heat and the sauce well. Cooking should take roughly 10 minutes.


While your zucchi-plant is cooking, prepare the sauce. In a separate bowl (or liquid measuring cup because you're too lazy to get a separate bowl), dissolve cornstarch or flour in water and add in sweetener, Sriracha sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and red pepper flake. Stir to combine.


After your sautéed veggies achieve optimum tenderness, add in garlic and cook until fragrant: about 2 minutes. Drop the heat to low and add in the sauce. Stir to coat, top with scallions (which I was too lazy to go outside to snip from my plant) and enjoy over a bowl of white or brown rice!


The best part about this recipe, besides the ease, quickness, and spectacular flavor, was the low calorie count! The entire recipe - YES THE ENTIRE RECIPE was 1 serving and contained a whopping 169 calories! Add in the 1/4 C of dried rice with 1 Tsp butter added during cooking and the whole meal was 396. For a whole dinner?! Isn't that insane?!


This recipe will definitely make it into my rotation again.


Stay tuned for details of my third New Mexico trip!