Spicy stuffed eggplant pieces with marinated kailan flowers

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 8 m.-tall Kailan (Chinese broccoli) with white flowers
• 30 g fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, light
• 3 tsp sauce (bulgogi sauce)
• 50 g chicken stock
• 3 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp sesame oil, dark
• 2 Pepper, red, long, mild to medium hot
• 2 tomatoes, oblong
• 2 m.-large leaves from Kailan
• 300 g eggplant(s)
• 2 tsp citric acid, alternatively 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 400 g water
• 150 g minced pork
• ½ tsp chicken broth powder
• ½ tsp Szechuan pepper, crushed
• 1 tsp bean paste, hot
• 2 eggs, size S
• 2 pinches of chicken stock powder
• 30 g wheat flour type 550
• 1 liter of frying oil
• 10 g fresh ginger
• 2 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 25 g bean paste, hot
• 1 tbsp sugar, fine
• 1 pinch(s) chicken stock powder
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar, light
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, light

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 55 minutes

Two complementary side dishes as an appetizer. Recipe from Western Chinese cuisine.

For the kailan flowers: Rinse the kailan, separate the flowers, including about 8 cm of stem. Separate the leaves from the stems and remove the leaf stalks. Discard any yellow or brown leaves. Trim about 1 cm off the bottom of the stems, peel them, and use them for another purpose. Chop 2 leaves and set aside for garnishing. Blanch the flowers and leaves for 2 minutes. Wash and peel the ginger, and cut them into thin slices across the grain. Place it in a blender with the soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of the bulgogi sauce, and the chicken stock and puree until smooth. Marinate the flowers and leaves for 1 hour. Then strain and place the leaves on one side of 2 serving bowls and cover with the flowers. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into small cubes. Drizzle the remaining bulgogi sauce over the kailan flowers. Drizzle the sesame oil over the flowers before serving. To garnish, halve the washed peppers lengthwise about 2 cm below the stem. Remove seeds and diaphragms. Cut the halves lengthwise into thirds, or quarter thicker peppers. Allow to bloom in cold water. For the tomato blossoms, cut off the top of the washed tomatoes so they stand upright. While standing, make four cross-shaped cuts from top to bottom, leaving about 1.5 cm free at the bottom. Separate the petals from the core and bend them outwards slightly. Sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper and place on the serving dishes. For the eggplant pieces, wash the eggplants. For the protective bath, dissolve the citric acid in the water. Cut off both ends of the eggplants, peel them, cut crosswise into about 12 mm thick slices and cut these horizontally about 75% of the way through. Then place them immediately in the protective bath. For the filling, mix the minced pork with the chicken stock powder, Sichuan peppercorn, and bean paste until smooth, then refrigerate for 20 minutes. Remove the eggplant pieces from the protective bath, drain well, and spread out on a clean tea towel and cover. Meanwhile, for the batter, crack the eggs with the chicken stock powder, then whisk in the wheat flour using a whisk. Set the batter aside in a bowl. For the sauce, peel the ginger and garlic cloves and dice them into small cubes. Mix in the remaining sauce ingredients and set aside. Open the well-dried eggplant pieces and fill with a heaped teaspoon of minced meat. Heat the frying oil to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the first four filled slices in the batter. Remove them with a fork, slide them into the frying oil, and fry until light brown. Remove from the oil using a coarse sieve and set aside on kitchen paper. Continue this process until all the pieces are fried. Place the cooked, spicy eggplant pieces next to the kailan. Drizzle with the sauce, sprinkle with the kailan leaves, garnish with the bell pepper blossom, and serve.