Love affair, part two

There are several charming things about this recipe. The first is that the main ingredient is eggplant, which, as expounded upon here, delights me to no end. Another is that the recipe calls for said eggplant to be cut into "fingers." I just love that description. And they really do look more like fingers than, say, chicken fingers. I have no doubt this recipe would be less delicious if the eggplant was cubed. Thirdly, I once made it for my sister-in-law, who currently lives VERY far away (no, think even more far away than that) and when I make it I like to think of the brief time she lived VERY nearby.

Eggplant fingers with an herby curry, adapted from the "contemporary curries" section of 660 Curries
Serves 3-ish

1/4 cup packed cilantro
3 T packed mint
2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass (this is now readily available in jars)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves of garlic
2-4 green chiles (Thai, serrano or jalepeno), just the stems removed
zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons oil
1 large, 2 medium, or several small eggplants, cut into fingers (think the shape of a french fry)
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup chopped basil
1/2 cup chopped green onions

hot rice, for serving

Put the cilantro, mint, lemongrass, salt, garlic, chiles and lime zest in a food processor and pulse to a fine mince.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Once it shimmers, add the eggplant fingers and the herb mixture. Cook 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato, and continue to cook until the eggplant is tender, about 10 more minutes. Watch the heat so you don't burn your eggplant. If you need to, add a tablespoon or so of water to prevent sticking.

Once the eggplant is done, turn off the heat and stir in the basil and green onions. Serve over rice. Think of Kate.

Using the surplus

A few months ago, my husband and I spent the better part of the afternoon reorganizing our refrigerator and pantry cupboard. Yes, our life is fabulous, we can't help it. Anyway - in this cleaning, we found three jars of hoisin sauce. Two in the fridge (one on the door, and one shoved in the corner of a bottom shelf) and one in the cupboard - our emergency stash, if you will. Heaven forbid Washington, DC, has a nuclear meltdown and we don't have any hoisin sauce! So the other night when we were scrounging a bit for food and didn't feel like walking the 250 yards to the grocery store, we threw this together. You'll see me later this week at H-Mart stockpiling the hoisin, now that we're down a 1/2 cup.

Hoisin chicken with clumpy (in a good way) rice, adapted from Donna Hay's "Off the Shelf"
Serves 2-3

Chicken
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup wine or sherry (I used leftover champagne)
1 tablespoon grated ginger
4-6 chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces*

Rice
1 tablespoon peanut oil
4 green onions, chopped
1 red chili, seeded and chopped
3 cups COOKED rice
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 small bunch swiss chard, bag of spinach, or head of bok choy

*vegetarian option: this would be really good with cubed tofu, too. Sear the cubes in a pan to get some texture on it before plopping them in the sauce.

Heat the hoisin sauce, wine and grated ginger in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and boil it for 2-3 minutes to thicken slightly. Add the chicken pieces and stir, until the chicken is cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or large skillet. Cook the onions and chili for about a minute. Stir in the rice and cook for 3-4 minutes. (A spatula works better than a wooden spoon here.) Pour the egg over top, and move the mixture around constantly until the raw egg is no longer visible, about a minute. Stir in the greens, adding a tablespoon or two of water to help them wilt down.

Serve the chicken and sauce over the rice.