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Lynds
Aug 22, 20204 min read

Thai Spicy Pork Stuffed Eggplant

With Savoy cabbage, cremini mushrooms, Thai chili's and basil over sweet and spicy rice noodles.


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I am doing a friendly competition with my Instagram food network. @c2.lifestyle I'm excited to be a part of it as each member takes turns recommending the "food" of the month, and this month was eggplant! What I like about it is that it pushes some boundaries and makes you think. This dish was my eggplant creation and I have to say it tasted pretty darn good.


I started with the widest eggplants I could find as my goal was to hollow them out and I still needed some substantial "eggplant" left!



I decided to roast these while still hollow at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. The goal was to ensure the inside of the eggplant became soft as well which I was not certain would happen if I stuffed it right away.





I enjoy using organic meat but that can some times be expensive. My second runner up is meat that does not have any added antibiotics or animal bi-products, it just makes me feel more in control of what I feed my family. For this dish I used ground chicken and pork mixed together.


I cooked these up using simply avocado and toasted sesame oil. The sesame oil started the process of adding that nutty Thai flavour but the flavor impact comes from the next step with the veggies.



I chopped up some organic savoy cabbage and cremini mushrooms and added them to a frying pan.




This was the marinade. I mixed equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, about 1/4 cup each. I added 2 Tbsp of sesame oil, 1 Tbsp of fish sauce, 1 Tbsp of avocado oil and 1 Tbsp of crushed garlic and 1 Tbsp of dried chili peppers (or more depending on your heat tolerance). I added 1/4 of this mix to the pan to saute the cabbage mushroom mix.




Once this rendered down I added the meat back in and poured, 1/4 of the marinade in again. I finely chopped up some Thai chili's an tore up some Thai basil leaves. Some of the basil gets cooked with the meat but save some for the final garnish.



I tossed the chili and some of the basil in with the meat and veggies and cooked down. Now I was ready to stuff the eggplant!






What was awesome about pre-cooking the eggplant was that the inside was soft enough to expand to take in a good volume of the meat and veggie mix. The skin was slightly wilted which was good but not too soft so it did it's job to hold it together. Once stuffed I placed t

hese eggplants back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Just enough time to boil water for the rice noodles and saute up some additional vegetables for the noodle base as well.



This additional vegetable base allowed me to use up the eggplant "guts" that I cored out! nothing should waste!



Fully cooked these looked amazing, the smell from my kitchen was pretty awesome too! I let these cool slightly so that when I cut the dials they remained intact. I'm not going to lie, this was a nerve wracking process and if you want this to look nice and not just taste nice, please use a freshly sharpened knife.






From here lay down your rice noodle base and top with your cooked veggie mix with the left over eggplant. Drizzle some of the remaining sauce over before placing down the eggplant dials. Place out your dials and place some of the remaining basil on top and serve!





The Recipe:


blend 1/2 pound of ground pork with 1/2 pound of ground chicken.

Cook with some avocado oil and sesame oil until fully cooked through. Set aside.


Chop up some savoy cabbage and cremini mushrooms and place in a frying pan.


The sauce is:

Equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, about 1/4 cup each. I added 2 Tbsp of sesame oil, 1 Tbsp of fish sauce, 1 Tbsp of avocado oil and 1 Tbsp of crushed garlic and 1 Tbsp of dried chili peppers (or more depending on your heat tolerance)


Saute the veggies in 1/4 of the prepared sauce and once cooked add in the meat and your chopped red chili's and some of the basil and saute.


In the mean time, core out the eggplant being careful to not extract too much of the center. Place these on a baking tray at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. You want the eggplant to start showing some wilting without getting too soft. If you push down on it with your finger you should be able to flex it, but not cave the eggplant in, if that makes sense.


Stuff the eggplant with the mix and place back in the oven for 10 more minutes.


let cool slightly before cutting.


boil water and cook the rice noodles while you saute up more cabbage, mushrooms and this time the chopped up guts of the eggplant, in some more of the sauce.


Plate out the noodles, and veggie, drizzle remaining sauce on the noodles and then lay out the eggplant dials on top. garnish with fresh Thai basil.





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