Teriyaki Steak and Eggplant brings together flavors, textures, and colors that make so much sense to my palate. I’ve always loved Asian food. When I was in high school, going to a Chinese restaurant was a special occasion. Date night. Sneaking a Mai Tai. Egg rolls, Sweet and Sour Pork, General Tso’s Chicken. So fresh, so much veg. Who am I kidding, I even loved the La Choy stuff in a can!
That’s where I started, and this is where I ended up – Teriyaki Steak and Eggplant, as fresh as fresh can be. I’m still harvesting eggplant, peppers, and basil. The beef is from a local farm. This dish is so much brighter and bolder than typical Chinese restaurant fare.
When I was in college, I’d frequent a Chinese restaurant with one of they guys who worked at the bank. We’d take turns treating each other. We weren’t dating; he was only a few years older than I, but he seemed paternal. Or so I thought, until one night after chowing down together he said to me, “You know, if you’d lose ten pounds, you’d be really stunning.” Jeesh. That was the end of that. I’ve always been a big eater, but still…
There was a dish on the menu at that restaurant that I always ordered – beef with broccoli in a brown garlic sauce. I’ve tried for years to recreate those flavors. I’ve learned to velvet beef. I’ve learned how to cook broccoli so that it’s crisp-tender. But I could never nail that garlic sauce. I may be on to something though.
Messing around with this Teriyaki Steak and Eggplant dish, trying to get the teriyaki marinade and sauce just right, I realized just how much sugar is used in Asian cooking. I’ve avoided using sugar in savory dishes for years. My Nan Nan would put sugar in everything in our family meals, even the vegetables, and I’d always end up in a food coma after the meal when we visited her. It was just so unnecessary. But I’ve come to realize that avoiding sugar altogether is as silly as avoiding salt in cooking. These basic elements build the flavors, whether or not the dish is distinctly sweet or distinctly salty.
Teriyaki sauce is supposed to be sweet, noticeably so. My first attempt was a failure because I relied on the mirin for sweetness. Nada. So I took a deep breath and did it – I included sugar. A gross amount of sugar. My next attempt entailed using 3/4 cup of brown sugar. No. No. No. Finally, this recipe includes just 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar, and I think it’s just right. I’m going to start working on the garlic sauce next!
Teriyaki Steak and Eggplant
Ingredients
Marinade and Sauce
- 1 cup tamari
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 T mirin
- 2 T rice vinegar
- 1 knob ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 T grapeseed oil
Stir-fry
- 5 or 6 Asian eggplants
- 8 ounces flank steak
- 1 green pepper
- 2 T cornstarch
- 2 T water
- 1 T rice wine vinegar
- 3 scallions
- 5 or 6 basil leaves
Velveting the steak
- 1 T tamari
- 1 t cornstarch
- 1/4 t baking soda
- 1 t sesame oil
Instructions
- Prep the eggplant – Remove the stem end of the eggplant and slice the eggplant into chunks.
- Make the Teriyaki marinade and marinate the eggplant – In a large bowl, add the tamari, water, brown sugar, mirin, rice vinegar, and oil. Peel the garlic. Using a hand grater or a rasp, grate the garlic and the ginger into the bowl with the vinegar mixture. Whisk to combine. Add the eggplant and stir to coat. Marinate for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. After two hours, scoop out the eggplant with a slotted spoon, and reserve the marinade.
- Velvet the steak – Carefully trim the steak, then cut it into 2 inch by 1/4 inch slices. Coat the beef slices with 1 T tamari, 1 t cornstarch and 1/4 t baking soda. Stir until the cornstarch is no longer visible. Pour in 1 t sesame oil and give it a good stir, then let rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Chop the green pepper and mince the scallions – while the steak is resting, chop the green pepper into wide strips about 2 inches long, and mince the scallions.
- Brown the steak – Preheat your wok or skillet, then add some oil, and heat until shimmering. Add the steak in batches, to avoid steaming it. Leave it alone until it caramelizes and then stir it, and let it continue to brown. When just cooked on the outside, remove the beef from the pan and set it aside.
- Cook the veg – Add the eggplant to the pan, and cook it for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then cover the pan and steam it until the eggplant softens begins to collapse. You want it to be cooked thoroughly. Add the green peppers and stir-fry until just crisp-tender.
- Finish – Coarsely chop the basil. Whisk 2 T of cornstarch and and 2 T of water together, then whisk this mixture, along with 1 additional T of rice wine vinegar, into the reserved marinade. Add the steak back to the pan and give the mélange a stir, then pour in the fortified marinade and the basil. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken, then take off of the heat. Garnish with minced scallions. Serve with rice.
