Eggplant in Plum Sauce

Last summer, when we were on our way back from our vacation in Hawaii, we got stranded at the airport for over 5 hours, owing to some snag with our aircraft. We had lunch from the Chinese deli at the airport and this was one of the dishes that we had then.  I enjoyed it so much that I had been trying out various recipes to recreate that taste. Though I came closer, there was something missing in all those. So I had been on the lookout for the authentic recipe for the eggplant dish.
My husband came upon this recipe while searching for something to make for Mother's day, so he surprised me by making this for me today for dinner, as he knew I had been on the lookout for this. This tasted like the one we had that day at Hawaii..
(Now, I realize that the secret ingredient was the Plum sauce.)
This goes well with fried rice.
Source: Martin Yan's Quick and Easy
Ingredients:
Egg plant - 1 lbs, roll cut
Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
For the sauce:
Plum sauce - 3 tbs (can be substituted with date sauce)
Rice wine - 2 tbs
Sesame oil - 2 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Dark say sauce - 1 tsp
Chilli sauce-1 tsp
Method:
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients and whisk to blend evenly and set it aside.
Deep-fry the egg plant pieces until golden brown, about 3 mts, at 350 degree F. Drain on a paper towel.
Heat a frying pan, add 2 tsp of oil, add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 20 sec). Now add the egg plant and sauce and bring to a boil. Cook stirring for 1 minute.

A peek into my Mother's day breakfast-in-bed (courtesy my husband and daughter):

Eggplant Parmesan

My daughter doesn't like to eat any dish made with egg-plant if she knows what the ingredient is. The only way I can make her eat any egg plant preparation is to camouflage it in such a way that she won't suspect it is egg-plant. Since she is a lover of Italian food (with me taking liberties to suite the Indian palette of ours), I found this recipe one sure way to make her eat some egg-plant.
The original recipe: Family Circle
Ingredients:
Egg plant - 1 big, cut into 1/4" thick circles (I shaved off the skin also, but you can leave the skin on)
Bread-crumbs - 3/4 cup
Eggs- 2 numbers
Chilli paste - 3 tbsp (or to your taste)
Salt - to taste
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp
For the sauce:
Garlic - 4 cloves
Canned tomatoes - 2 cans
Oregano - 1 1/2 tsp
Red pepper flakes - 1/4 tsp
Basil (fresh) - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 cup, diced
Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup
Pasta - 1 packet, cooked following the directions on the pack
Method:
For the Egg Plant :
Heat the oven to 400 degree F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a plate, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano and salt. In another plate, lightly whisk the eggs. In a bowl, mix the garlic powder and chilli paste. Apply this chilli paste evenly on to both sides of the egg plant slices. Dip each slice in the egg and coat it with bread crumb mix. Place the egg plant slices on the prepared baking tray, spray with cooking oil evenly and bake for 25 minutes or until it is brown or tender.
For the Sauce:
While the egg plant is in the oven, heat a skillet, add 2 tbsp of cooking oil and saute the onions till slightly brown. Add garlic, tomato, oregano, salt and red pepper flakes. Simmer this, stirring occasionally for 10 mts. Add basil to the sauce. If you like a chunky sauce, leave it as it is or if you want is smoother, you can blend this using a hand blender.
Overlap the eggplant slices on a baking sheet(make 4 piles), spoon sauce evenly over each portion. Don't use up the whole sauce - reserve about 1/4th for serving. Evenly sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 mts. Serve the eggplant with pasta and the sauce that was reserved.
Sending this over to Bake Off hosted by Champa  and to Akila for her event Dish Name Starts with:E

Steamed Eggplant

This is one dish I like as this requires no oil and on the days that I feel like having something healthy this is the dish I go for.This goes well with just plain jasmine rice or with Indian flat breads.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon light-flavoured vinegar (try rice vinegar or white vinegar)
2 garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoon caster sugar
2 teaspoon Chilli paste
1 eggplant (a big one)
2 tablespoon Cilantro
Method:
Combine soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and sugar in a bowl. Set aside. Slice eggplant into thin slices and place on a heatproof plate. Place plate in a steamer, cover with lid and steam for 15 minutes. Pour over sauce and steam for another 5 minutes. Garnish with 1 finely sliced small red chilli and chopped cilantro.