Eggplant sandwich meat, known as "fried eggplant box" in the northeast, and "stuffed eggplant" in the south, is deeply loved by the public for its crispy taste and rich aroma. In Siyang County, Suqian, northern Jiangsu, this intersection of north and south, eggplant sandwich meat has a more special feeling for local farmers.
Whether it is a delicacy at a farmhouse banquet or a home-cooked side dish on weekdays, the dish of eggplant with meat appears very frequently. The ingredients used are nothing more than the most ordinary eggplant, pork, eggs and flour, the eggplant is not cut off by a knife, the meat filling is added in the middle of the eggplant layer, wrapped in batter and fried until it is golden on both sides, crispy and fragrant, and the bulging piece is particularly like a small bread.
Compared with the stuffed eggplant that is fried and then fried first, the eggplant sandwich meat is not so much under the rice, but it is more like a cake or a special snack, but because the Siyang people like salty and heavy, the most common way to eat is to eat rice. Grandma Cui of Likou Town, Siyang, often made this eggplant sandwich to see what was special about her approach.
【Ingredients】
Eggplant, pork belly, eggs, flour, soy sauce.
【Directions】
1: Wash the eggplant, cut off the root of the eggplant, and then cut off the eggplant on the cutting board one by one, and cut out a whole piece of eggplant with a thickness of about 2 cm.
The cut eggplant is best salted and marinated for a while, this step forces out the moisture inside the eggplant, so that it is less oil-absorbing when fried. It also allows the eggplant to taste better, and the bitter taste in the eggplant will also be removed.
2: Wash the lean pork, first cut the whole piece of lean meat horizontally, then cut into small pieces, chop into minced meat; ginger cut into small grains, and green onion into green onions.
Chopping meat stuffing is not a random pick up a knife to cut, the first step is to cut the meat horizontally into thin slices, when slicing must remember, do not disrupt the order of meat, let it slowly fold up, cut it into silk, so that the meat becomes very small, chopped up will be much easier.
3. Make the filling. Place the chopped green onion and ginger on top of the minced meat, beat an egg, add a spoonful of soy sauce, chicken essence, about 10 grams of flour, and stir well.
The filling prepared by the northern Jiangsu farmers is also very solid, the onion ginger to the fishy Titian, two native eggs, can enrich the nutrition of the meat filling, while the eggs are very viscous, especially the egg white, adding egg white can make the meat filling more viscous, and finally the soy sauce increases the salty and umami taste, the flour makes the meat filling stick more tightly, it is not easy to spread.
4, the adjusted meat filling into the eggplant sandwich, pay attention to the meat filling to be evenly appropriate, more meat is easy to disperse, less then the paste can not hold the batter.
"Sandwiching meat" is the most critical step in the whole production process, and it is also a step to test the foundation. Use both hands together, one hand to fix the eggplant, the other hand to the meat filling, in addition to the meat stuffing into the strength can not be too large, the amount of put can not be too much, otherwise the meat is easy to disperse, but also can not put too little, less paste can not hold the batter.
If you want to distribute the meat evenly, you can first pile the meat on the lower end of the eggplant box, squeeze it together, and if there is less meat on it, you can add a little more.
5. Make the batter. Pour two spoonfuls of soy sauce, one spoonful of chicken essence into a large bowl, beat in two eggs, half a bowl of water, and finally pour a small bowl of flour in the same direction and stir well, adding a small amount of flour according to the thickness of the batter until the batter is sizing.
Eggplant and meat are a perfect match, the eggplant is light, the meat is mellow, the mellow eggplant is mixed with the meat, and the meat becomes refreshing and not greasy. Home-cooked dishes such as eggplant and eggplant roast meat are a testament to their wonderful combinations.
The batter should be hung without desizing, and the frying will be crisp and not soft to be successfully modulated. The proportion of flour should be added little by little, to see the viscosity of the batter, and then play out in the same direction, to test whether the batter is a good standard, you can use chopsticks to lift, there is a drawing, and it is best to flow even if it is completed.
6, pour 5 pounds of oil into the pot, the front and back of the eggplant are wrapped in paste, when the oil smokes small bubbles into the pan and fry, about two minutes or so to turn over, fry through, the skin is fried to golden brown when fished out of the drained oil and put into the bowl; then repeat the above operations.
When frying the eggplant box, the oil must be more, the oil temperature is 60% hot almost can be under the pot, then the eggplant paste paste, wrapped up and clipped out into the pot, pay attention to the action to be coherent. Almost three or four minutes can be turned over, no fried colored eggplant, it is recommended to re-fry, wait for the two sides of the golden or even a little browned yellow, there is a crispy feeling can be fished out immediately.
Eggplant sandwich meat, in terms of appearance and fame can be said to be no number one, but the taste is not lost to any big dish! Every New Year's Festival, feasting on the eggplant made by friends, is always quickly eliminated in silence.
Food is the deepest collective memory of people in a region, just like eggplant with meat to the Siyang people, this homely taste has been engraved in their taste code.