Eggplant Dressing Recipe: Cold Appetizer in Hot Summer!
Eating your regular eggplant dishes in summer isn’t always very comforting. When I was growing up, my mom used to make this cold appetizer with eggplants. It was so soothing and delicious that I devoured the very last bit of the eggplant dressing.
Today, I have the cold eggplant dressing recipe for you. There might be a lot of eggplant dressing recipes, but this one is in the traditional Beijing style. You might be surprised to know how easily this appetizer can be made. Let’s get into the preparation and cooking.
Table of Contents
Eggplant Dressing Recipe Overview
The difficulty level of a dish might be different for everyone. But I would like to call this an easy dish. Here is a quick overview of the recipe.
| Cuisine: Chinese | Difficulty: Easy | ||
| Total Time: 25 minutes | |||
| Serving | Preparation Time | Cooking Time | Calories |
| 2 persons | 10 minutes | 15 minutes | 164 kcal |
Ingredients Needed for Eggplant Dressing Recipe
This dish requires only 5 ingredients in total. Check the description of the ingredients before we start cooking it.
Main Ingredients for the Recipe
- Eggplant: I am using one large, round eggplant of about 250g. You can also use long eggplant, which is more tender than round ones.
- Garlic: Use 7-8 large cloves of garlic
- Sesame Paste: Take one cup of sesame paste. You can use more or less depending on how intense you want the dressing.
Sauces and Seasonings for the Recipe
- Salt: 2 tsp
- Dark Vinegar: 1 tbsp
That’s it for the ingredients! Let’s now prepare them and turn them into an amazing appetizer.
Eggplant Dressing Recipe: Step-By-Step Instructions
Planning the steps makes cooking this dish even easier. Here are the steps I use.
Step 1: Peel and Cut the Eggplant
Wash the eggplant thoroughly. Chop the stalk off and peel the eggplant. Then, cut the eggplant into thick discs. Each disc should be at least half an inch thick.
Cut the discs again into large chunks, but not cubes.
Step 2: Soak the Eggplant
As soon as you cut the eggplant, soak it in water. Add some salt to the water. If you don’t soak the eggplant, it will oxidize and turn into a darker color quickly.
Step 3: Steam the Eggplant
Place a steamer on top of the stove and wait until the water starts to boil. When you see steam coming out, add the eggplant chunks to the steamer. Close the eggplant with the lid and let it steam for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, you need to prepare the dressing.
Step 4: Grind the Garlic
Take the garlic cloves in a mortar and grind them with the pestle. Add a pinch of salt to the mortar to make the garlic paste sticky. Some people use grinders but I prefer the mortar and pestle. This way, the garlic paste becomes a bit sticky, which gives a better mouthfeel.
Step 5: Prepare the Sesame Paste
If you want to make the sesame paste from scratch, go for it. I am using pre-made sesame paste. Take the paste in a bowl and add a few splashes of drinking water to the paste. Continue stirring the paste in one direction until it has a saucy consistency.
You Can Also Try Chinese Eggplant Tofu Recipe
Step 6: Mix the Garlic and Sesame Paste
Put the garlic paste into the sesame sauce. Then, add about 1 tbsp of dark vinegar to the mixture. This will enhance the taste of the dressing.
Step 7: Assemble the Dressing
Once the eggplant is steamed for 10 minutes, take it off the steamer. Drain the salt water and transfer the eggplant to a serving bowl. Then, pour the prepared dressing on top. Stir everything with chopsticks to break the eggplant down. A delicious appetizer is now ready.
Nutrition Facts of Eggplant Dressing Recipe
Besides being tasty, eggplant dressing is full of nutrients. Check the nutritional value of this dish below.
- Total Carbohydrates: 9.1g
- Protein: 12g
- Total Fat: 2.3g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g
- Total Dietary Fiber: 2g
- Total Sugar: 0g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
- Sodium: 23mg
- Potassium: 121mg
- Calcium: 45mg
- Iron: 0.8mg
- Vitamin A: 11IU
- Vitamin C: 1.4mg
Eggplant Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Wash the eggplant thoroughly. Chop the stalk off and peel the eggplant. Then, cut the eggplant into thick discs. Each disc should be at least half an inch thick.
- Cut the discs again into large chunks, but not cubes.
- As soon as you cut the eggplant, soak it in water. Add some salt to the water. If you don’t soak the eggplant, it will oxidize and turn into a darker color quickly.
- Place a steamer on top of the stove and wait until the water starts to boil. When you see steam coming out, add the eggplant chunks to the steamer. Close the eggplant with the lid and let it steam for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, you need to prepare the dressing.
- Take the garlic cloves in a mortar and grind them with the pestle. Add a pinch of salt to the mortar to make the garlic paste sticky. Some people use grinders but I prefer the mortar and pestle. This way, the garlic paste becomes a bit sticky, which gives a better mouthfeel.
- If you want to make the sesame paste from scratch, go for it. I am using pre-made sesame paste. Take the paste in a bowl and add a few splashes of drinking water to the paste. Continue stirring the paste in one direction until it has a saucy consistency.
- Put the garlic paste into the sesame sauce. Then, add about 1 tbsp of dark vinegar to the mixture. This will enhance the taste of the dressing.
- Once the eggplant is steamed for 10 minutes, take it off the steamer. Drain the salt water and transfer the eggplant to a serving bowl. Then, pour the prepared dressing on top. Stir everything with chopsticks to break the eggplant down. A delicious appetizer is now ready.
FAQs
Check out the answers to some questions related to the eggplant dressing recipe.
Can I use different types of eggplants for this dressing?
Of course. You can use round or long eggplants for this dressing. Even graffiti eggplants are also suitable for this recipe. Just make sure the eggplant is fresh.
Is eggplant dressing typically served hot or cold?
As eggplant dressing is mostly eaten in summer, it is traditionally served cold. Steamed eggplant is cooled down and mixed with the garlic and sesame paste. As the garlic and sesame paste is already cold, the dish cools down further.
Are there specific seasonings that enhance the flavor of eggplant dressing?
Not a lot of seasonings are used in this recipe. Just a bit of salt and vinegar is enough. The only specific seasoning is dark vinegar, which enhances the flavor of the dish.
Can I make a vegan version of eggplant dressing?
The recipe I showed here is already vegan. So, you don’t need to look for any other recipes.
How to remove bitterness from eggplant for this recipe?
If you want to remove the bitterness from regular eggplants, soak them in salt water for about one hour. After one hour, drain the water. It will eliminate most of the bitterness.
Conclusion
Midst a variety of hot dishes, this cold eggplant dressing recipe gives a soothing touch in summer. As it requires only five ingredients, you can make this anytime. Also, no special technique is required to make this flavorful appetizer.
I hope you will try this traditional but easy recipe for eggplant dressing. As this recipe uses no additional spices, your kids can easily enjoy this dish. Let me know what you think about this recipe or share your stories with this dish.
