More Comfort Dinner - Thai Eggplant on Rice

I like to explore ways to cook more easy and flavourful dishes at home. And, of course, they need to be on the healthier side as well.

There is a dish I used to always order at a Thai restaurant and it is Thai Eggplant. I was hooked by the flavourful blend of salty, sweet and spicy of the dish. However, it came literally drenched in oil. This is because restaurant like to deep fry eggplants in oil just to perceive the purple colour.

I was thinking about how to make a healthier version of it at home and this is what I came up with: no deep frying, cut down on the oil, remove the sugar completely and use healthy lean meat instead of pork.

Ingredients:

• Asian eggplant, ground turkey, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot water

Steps:

• Boil eggplant in hot water for 3 minutes
• Combine fish sauce and soy sauce in a small bowl
• Brown turkey with ginger and garlic in sesame oil
• When the meat is almost cooked, stir in partially-cooked eggplant
• Add fish sauce and soy sauce mixture, cover and cook for 5 minutes
• Add chopped kale on top and serve

And, if you have Thai basil handy, definitely add some but please wait till you are ready to serve as Basil loses its flavour when cooked, therefore add right before you are ready to eat!

I paired this dish with some brown rice and it was yummy. I would say as good as the restaurant. Now, I can have Thai Food at home, hahaha.