Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

This recipe for Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce is one of my favorite ways of cooking eggplant! Give it a try and enjoy it with a side of rice or rice noodles.

I’m a huge eggplant fan as you probably have noticed from the many eggplant recipes I have on my blog, so I couldn’t miss this awesome Chinese eggplant recipe with sticky garlic sauce, as part of this month’s challenge of cooking vegan Asian recipes.

Eggplant is a very popular vegetable used in recipes from all over the world. I find that the combination of eggplant and garlic is absolutely perfect, so when I discovered this popular Chinese recipe I immediately wanted to give it a try.

This recipe is quite different from other eggplant recipes I’ve tried in the past, as it has a different method of cooking eggplant as well as a unique type of garlic sauce. Salting the eggplant at the beginning of this recipe is a technique I’ve never used before. I usually buy young, small eggplants which are not that bitter, but apparently this method will help eliminate the bitterness of eggplants and make it taste even better.

Also, patting it dry before salting and cooking improve the eggplant’s texture, making it slightly crispy. This is definitely something I’ll remember next time I cook with eggplants! 🙂

I recently found out that China is the world’s leading producer and consumer of eggplants, so they know how to cook this awesome veggie.

The rest of the flavours blend so well together. The ginger adds some spiciness to the dish, the sauce is silky and sticky, the coconut sugar gives it a sweet taste and the garlic enhances everything! I just love everything about this recipe. You can also cook it in advance if you want to meal prep, as it can be stored in a container in the fridge for a couple of days and reheated.

You can eat this with rice noodles, rice, or maybe even put it in a burger bun and enjoy an amazing lunch!

Hope you’ll like this Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce recipe! Don’t forget, if you give my recipes a try, take a photo and tag me on Instagram and use the hashtag. I will feature you on my Facebook page and/or Instagram Stories! 🙂

Looking for more sauces recipes? Check out our favourite sandwich recipes here

Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

This recipe for Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce is one of my favourite ways of cooking eggplant! Give it a try and enjoy it with a side of rice or rice noodles. Serves: 2+

Ingredients

For the eggplant:

• 3 large eggplant, sliced

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp tapioca flour

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tsp ginger, minced

• 2 tbsp oil

• 1 tbsp green onion, chopped

• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped

• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

For the sauce:

• 1 tsp tapioca flour

• 2½ tbsp soy sauce or tamari

• 2 tsp coconut sugar

• ½ tbsp oil

Instructions

1. Spread the sliced eggplant on a paper towel. Sprinkle sea salt on both sides of the eggplant slices. Cover with another layer of paper towel and allow to rest for 45-60 minutes. Pat dry.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine all the sauce ingredient, mix well and set aside.

3. In a big bowl, combine dry eggplant with tapioca and mix to evenly coat every piece.

4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add oil.Spread the eggplant across the bottom of the pan in a single layer.

5. Fry the eggplant on both sides until all golden and soft, for about 10 minutes.

6. Transfer to a plate. Cook the remaining eggplant in batches.

7. In a large wok pan, heat a little bit more oil, add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.

8. Add all the eggplant to the wok and pour the sauce over. Stir a few times, until the eggplant is evenly coated and the sauce thickens. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

9. Top with chopped greens and serve with some rice noodles or rice on a side.

The Best Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce

This is the best vegan nacho cheese sauce recipe you can make! It stretches, looks like real cheese nacho sauce and it tastes delicious!

This vegan nacho cheese sauce is another recipe I’ve been wanting to try since I started my

The Best Vegan Cheese Challenge. I am so happy it turned out just like I wanted it to be! It’s stretchy, has a lovely, vibrant colour just like cheddar sauce would look like, taste awesome, and it’s absolutely perfect for nachos.

I was inspired by Lindsay’s Nacho Cheese Recipe recipe and adapted it from there. I modified the quantities, added some new ingredients and the result exceeded my expectations!

Who would have thought that you can use potatoes and carrots to make an awesome cheese sauce?! Really. This was awesome! 🙂

I used this vegan nacho cheese recipe for pasta as well. I will post that recipe soon. The quantities mentioned in the recipe below will be enough for a big bowl of nacho sauce just like the one in the photos, plus for 2-3 servings of delicious nacho cheese pasta. You can eat it just as it is too! It is addictive!

Hope you’ll give this recipe a try and let me know how it turned out for you! 🙂

Looking for more sauces recipes? Check out our favourite sandwich recipes here

The Best Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce

This is the best vegan nacho cheese sauce recipe you can make! It stretches, looks like real cheese nacho sauce, and it tastes delicious!

Prep time - 10 mins Cook time - 30 mins Total time - 40 mins Serves - 6+

Ingredients

• 2 medium potatoes, cut in small cubes

• 2 large carrots, sliced

• 5 Tbsps nutritional yeast flakes

• 3 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil

• 5 Tbsps tapioca starch/flour

• some water (the water from boiled veggies)

• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp sweet paprika

• 1½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Boil veggies until tender - 20 minutes. Remove from heat and leave them in the water for 10 more minutes.

2. Drain them, save some water, about 1½ cup, maybe a little bit more.

3. Put all ingredients in the food processor. Blend until smooth.

4. Add water, little by little, until you reach the desired consistency. It has to be smooth and semi-liquid.

5. Pour the mixture in a large pan over medium heat.

6. Stir continuously. You'll see that this "sauce" will thicken and get sticky. Stir for about 10 minutes.

7. Serve!

Vegan Meatballs in White Sauce

Try this super-easy recipe for vegan meatballs served in a creamy, dairy-free, cheesy sauce and paired with a side of fluffy mashed potatoes. You’ll love it!

This recipe is AAAAAAMAZING! I’m not modest at all. These vegan meatballs turned out excellent! The taste was just like regular meatballs and even the texture is on point thanks to TSP (textured soy protein) granules!

The whole preparation part for this recipe – making the vegan meatballs, sauce and mashed potatoes – will take about an hour, but it’s so worth it! You can save some time and double or triple the quantities for the vegan meatballs, shape them and freeze them for later. This way, the next time you want to make this recipe, it will be done in half the time.

TSP is pretty amazing for vegans, but make sure you find a reliable source for non-GMO textured soy protein. Also, choose the unflavoured kind to avoid any added salt or MSG. It’s super high in proteins! 100 grams of TSP has over 50g of pure protein! How amazing is that?! Not to mention the texture, which resembles meat so well.

The white sauce is also super-easy to make. It has a cheesy/milky taste without having dairy at all! Nutritional yeast and raw cashews are perfect for adding that milky flavour to recipes. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to make this in batches. The sauce is best eaten when it’s hot. Once it starts to get cold, it also thickens.

Now, about my vegan mashed potatoes recipe…I have a couple of tips and tricks for you! I recently gave up dairy completely, as I found out that it was causing me allergic reactions, so no more butter for me! I always added butter to mashed potatoes and felt like they taste bad without it. Fortunately, I had a brilliant idea of using vegan mayo instead! PROBLEM SOLVED! My mashed potato recipe not only turned out just as fluffy, but I think the taste is even better than it was when I used butter. 🙂

So, without further ado, head straight to the kitchen and make this simple and delicious vegan meatballs recipe. Then come back here and leave me a comment to tell me how it was. Enjoy!

P.S. I recently started posting on my YouTube channel. I post weekly, every Thursday. This recipe and others, which I will post soon on the blog, are part of my first What I Eat in a Week video. Don’t forget to Subscribe and give it a Thumbs Up if you like it! 🙂

Looking for more sauces recipes? Check out our favourite sandwich recipes here

Vegan Meatballs in White Sauce

Try this super-easy recipe for vegan meatballs served in a creamy, dairy-free, cheesy sauce and paired with a side of fluffy mashed potatoes. You'll love it!

Prep time - 20 mins Cook time - 40 mins Total time - 1 hour Serves - 4 servings

Ingredients

Vegan meatballs:

• 100g textured soy protein - granules

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 Tbsps chickpea flour

• 1 Tbsp psyllium husks

• 3-4 tsps meatball seasoning (mine contains cumin, black pepper, ground sweet pepper, coriander, onion powder, garlic powder)

• 2 Tbsps dry veggie mix

• 1 tsp cocoa powder

• ½ tsp sea salt

• oil, for frying

Cashew sauce:

• a handful of raw cashews, soaked overnight or for at least 2 hours

• 2 cups water

• 2 Tbsps nutritional yeast flakes

• 2 Tbsps flour

• 6-8 garlic cloves (I like it with a strong garlic flavour, but you can add less)

• ½ tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp white pepper, ground

Vegan mashed potatoes:

• 6 potatoes, peeled

• 2 Tbsps vegan mayonnaise

• salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Vegan meatballs:

2. Add the textured soy protein granules into a bowl and pour hot water on them. Let them soak. Until then, make the cashew sauce or mashed potatoes.

3. When they're soft, in about 10 minutes, drain them and add the rest of the ingredients for the vegan meatballs. Mix well together and let the composition sit for a while.

4. If the composition is too dry, and it's not easy to shape the balls, just add 1-2 Tbsps of water.

5. Heat some oil in a non-stick pan. Make sure it covers the bottom of the pan. You don't have to deep-fry these, just add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan evenly.

6. Shape the vegan meat balls and fry them on all sides, until nice and crispy.

7. Place them on a paper towel, to remove all excess oil.

Cashew sauce:

1. Add all the ingredients into a blender and blend well until everything is super-smooth! Let it blend for a couple of minutes and check to see if it still has a grainy texture due to cashew or if it's smooth and ready to go. This will take about 5 minutes of continuous blending.

2. Pour the sauce composition into a pan and slowly cook over medium heat, while stirring continuously. You will notice that the sauce will start to thicken. Stop once it has the consistency of yogurt. It will also thicken while it's getting colder.

3. When the vegan meatballs are ready, just add them to the sauce pan.

Vegan mashed potatoes:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.

2. Boil them until tender. Check them with a fork after 20 minutes to see if they're soft.

3. Drain almost all the water, but save about a cup.

4. Using a hand mixer, start mixing the potatoes. Add a little bit of water to reach the desired consistency.

5. Add sea salt to taste and the trick...2 tablespoons of vegan Mayo! I found that this is the best replacement for butter in vegan mashed potatoes. Mix well and serve.