Szechuan-style eggplant with tofu and shiitake

This is a delicious sweet and sour mash-up of a couple of different dishes - a Neil Perry recipe for Szechuan fried eggplant and another for vegan mapo tofu. The two sauces had a lot in common and we figured: why be forced to choose between eggplant and tofu when  we can have both, hey?

We roast rather than fry the eggplant because man oh man, it does love to drink up that sweet oil, and simmer the shiitake mushrooms till tender. Then we fry up a flavour bomb of garlic, ginger and spring onions, before adding the saucy elements- black beans, Szechuan peppercorns, rice vinegar and chilli sauce, bean paste and sesame oil. We stir through the soft, cooked eggplant, tofu and mushrooms and bring the whole thing together gently before dishing up.

Eggplant, fried silken tofu, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, spring onion, black beans, rice bran oil, salt, rice vinegar, sugar, chilli bean paste, bean sauce, sesame oil, cornflour. 

Try this as a side to our twice cooked master stock pork belly on a bed of some steamed rice or noodles. Sprinkle with some extra chopped spring onion and coriander leaves and throw in a handful of baby spinach or kale if you'd like a quick green addition.