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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Gochujang eggplant

September 23, 2020 by Ania - 26

aubergine, easy, gluten-free, healthygo to recipe

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gochujang eggplant plate

Even though autumn is clearly very much in the air, I am still a little nostalgic about summer. It’s perhaps because I feel that there wasn’t enough of it this year and what there was was tainted by the realities of a global pandemic – and so I am not ready to say goodbye to late summer produce just yet. Especially eggplants, which I have been buying a lot of lately. I have at least 2, maybe 3, shareable eggplant recipes in my head if you are a fellow fan.

Today’s recipe is a quick, midweek number that uses few ingredients and is pretty effortless in terms of prep, yet it delivers a satisfying and packed-with-flavour meal. This dish is a love child of two of my other dishes, this one and this one. My focus here was to create a dish that is easy to make, delivers a lot of flavour and does not use a lot of oil as I am on a bit of a post-lockdown health kick.

Even when not on a health kick, I’m generally quite oil-averse although I’m not ready to ditch it completely. I realise that there is little nutritional benefit to oil (you are better off consuming the actual ingredient that it is derived from), but it does help in the flavour department immensely and I feel that’s not a trivial matter. In this case, however, I really don’t feel that there is that much difference and as eggplant is notorious for being an oil-thirsty vegetable, I’ve decided to prepare it in the same way I treat it when making my famous moussaka. I slice it and stick it into a hot oven and let the high temperature soften its flesh. Once soft, it takes well to being coated in an aromatic, spicy sauce and while the fried version is a touch more indulgent, I think this is a good option if you are trying to eat healthier.

PS: If you make my gochujang eggplant, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

gochujang eggplant ingredient

gochujang eggplant sauce

gochujang eggplant wok

gochujang eggplant chopsticks

5.00 from 8 votes
Print
  • serves: 2
  • prep: 15 min
  • cooking: 30 min

Ingredients

  • 500 g / 1 lb (2 small) eggplants / aubergines
  • 1 cup raw rice (I used white jasmin)
  • 2 spring onions / scallions
  • 5-10 ml / 1-2 tsp high smoke point oil, I use rice bran
  • small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
  • chopped toasted peanuts, to decorate

SAUCE

  • 2 tsp cornstarch / cornflour
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari (for GF version)
  • 4 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup or sugar
  • 1 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2-3 tsp Gochujang (Korean chilli paste)*, adjust to taste

Method

  1. Heat up the oven to 200° C / 390° F and grab an old-fashioned (ideally steel not teflon coated) baking tray. See NOTES for the alternative.
  2. Cut your aubergines / eggplants into 1.25 cm / ½” rounds and arrange them on the baking tray. There is no need to grease them although you can use a small amount of oil if you wish. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, flipping the slices to the other side halfway through. They are done when soft all the way though and lightly browned on both sides.
  3. Meanwhile, cook the rice (I use the absorption method, 1 cup rice : 1¼ cups water and no salt) and chop spring onions. Cut them on the diagonal and separate white and light green parts from the dark green ends, which we will use as garnish. Set aside.
  4. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tsp of water in a medium bowl to create cornstarch slurry, then add the remaining sauce ingredients and 2 tbsp of water. Mix well and adjust the level of spiciness (gochujang) to your taste.
  5. Once out of the oven, cut aubergine slices into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I cut each slice into 6-8 wedges, depending on the size.
  6. Heat up a wok on a medium heat. Once it starts to smoke slightly, add a small amount of oil, white and light green spring onion slices to the wok. Stir fry them for a few seconds – until softened and lightly charred.
  7. Give the sauce a good stir before adding it to the hot wok. Allow it to bubble for a few seconds to thicken. Stir in aubergine / eggplant chunks, give them a few seconds to heat up. Take off the heat.
  8. Divide the rice between two bowls, top with saucy aubergine / eggplant. Garnish with green parts of spring onions, fresh coriander and chopped toasted peanuts.

Notes

*Ensure you get a gluten-free brand if making this for someone intolerant to gluten.

If you are not fussed about your oil consumption, you can chop it up small, dust with cornstach / cornflour and fry the aubergine / eggplant in oil as in this recipe.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Judy says

    September 23, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    I’m in! Just added eggplant to my grocery list (not that I ever really need inducement to do so as it’s one of my favorite veggies), because this recipe looks heavenly. Thank you, as always, for making it so easy for me to cook wonderful meals.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 23, 2020 at 7:28 pm

      Aw, thank you for your kind words, Judy! I hope you’ll enjoy it! Ania

      Reply
  2. Tina Hofmann says

    September 23, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    Oh man, this looks so yum!! I’m fasting for a few days, so I can’t wait to try it out!!! Eggplants are easily available here in Greece , hopefully cilantro will still be on the market, as I think that is absolutely essential 🙂

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 23, 2020 at 7:41 pm

      Aw thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy it and you could probably do without cilantro but I do love the freshness it adds (cilantro fiend here 🙂 ). Ania

      Reply
  3. Smitha says

    September 24, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    I want to make this for date night -what would recommend as a starter/side?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 24, 2020 at 7:40 pm

      Hi Smitha,

      Perhaps you could serve it with some greens, like tenderstem broccoli, pak choi, spinach (steamed or stir-fried) drizzled with a sesame dressing like in this recipe. I hope that’s what you were after and that you will enjoy. Ania

      Reply
  4. Jill says

    September 25, 2020 at 7:00 am

    I love eggplant and have been craving it. Baba ghanoush was going to make an appearance until I saw this recipe. It was perfect! Baking the eggplant worked so well and was hands off. I hate ordering eggplant out as it’s always soaked with oil and mushy. Smitha asked for a date night recommendation and I think soup would be a great starter. Your miso pumpkin soup would be great and also seasonal.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 26, 2020 at 7:44 pm

      Thanks Jill, I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed my slightly oil-phobic version 😉 I hear you, you can really ruin an eggplant by using too much oil/oil at incorrect temperature. Yes, great idea – soup would work well. Ania

      Reply
  5. Kasia says

    September 25, 2020 at 9:24 am

    Czesc Ania,

    Made it yesterday for dinner and it was delicious and super easy. Thank you! Ania would you consider taking on gochujang recipe? All the teady pastes are terrible in ingredients and the traditional recipe is way too complicated. It would be great to have a recipe with no soy , no corn or nasty sweeteners. Kasia

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 26, 2020 at 7:52 pm

      Delighted to hear that you enjoyed it, Kasia. I wasn’t planning on it as I didn’t think anyone would bother making one from scratch, but sounds like it may be worth looking into. I will see what I can do, thanks for the suggestion. x Ania

      Reply
  6. Lisette van Oosterhout says

    September 26, 2020 at 12:36 am

    Yummie this was so good. I made these delicious eggplants this evening and I couldn’t stop eating. So good and so easy to make. The only thing I changed up I made was that I already cut up the eggplant in smaller pieces before I put them in the oven.
    Every now and then we have an eggplant-week: I cook every night a meal with eggplant, but every evening something else. Next time these gochuang eggplants are in!
    thanks you for your lovely recipes, Ania!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 26, 2020 at 8:00 pm

      My pleasure, Lisette! I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed it. And thanks so much for taking the time to let me and other readers know that you’ve made it and liked it enough to make again – much appreciated. x Ania

      Reply
  7. Lucy says

    October 8, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    “Spot on!” My other half commented. This is a really quick and easy meal to make. Packed full of flavour too. We chopped the aubergines into chunks first which cut down on cooking time. I’m always skeptical with recipes that include maple syrup as they can be so sweet, but the proportions of the ingredients in sauce worked extremely well. Thank you so much 😊

    Reply
    • Ania says

      October 9, 2020 at 12:05 pm

      Hi Lucy,

      That’s fantastic to hear that both you and your other half enjoyed this dish so much. And thanks so much for letting me know that it was a hit – much appreciated. Ania

      Reply
  8. Ryvamo says

    October 20, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    This might be the best meal i have ever made myself! I will eat this every week for the rest of my life.

    It really is just perfect. The sauce is great and EXACTLY the right amount. Spot on!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      October 21, 2020 at 12:08 am

      Thanks so much, Ryvamo! I’m delighted to hear that this dish was such a hit with you. Ania

      Reply
  9. Chrissy says

    October 22, 2020 at 11:26 am

    This was absolutely delicious. Beautiful ingredients, and stunning flavours!!!
    Served it with choy sum and brown rice. Beautiful!!!! Thank you!!!!!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      October 22, 2020 at 2:57 pm

      My pleasure, Chrissy. I’m delighted you enjoyed it so much! x Ania

      Reply
  10. Lindsay says

    October 24, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    I used to live in South Korea so always have a tub of gochujang in the fridge, but I’ve always tended to use it in traditional Korean dishes. This is a great alternative. I’ve made this about 3 or 4 times now, as a main and as a side dish to sweet potato curry and it always turns out well.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      October 25, 2020 at 10:41 pm

      Delighted to hear that you enjoyed this dish, Lindsay! And thank you so much for letting me know, much appreciated. Ania

      Reply
  11. Otokini Davies says

    November 1, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    Looks lovely! Thinking about making it for a dinner party, do you think I can make it ahead of time? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 1, 2020 at 9:14 pm

      Hi,

      Thank you. I suppose so although I would personally bake the aubergine ahead of time and make the sauce just before serving as it takes no time at all and you’ll need to re-heat it anyway. If you decide to make the whole thing ahead of time, you may need to add a splash of water to re-heat – use your judgement. Ania

      Reply
  12. Otokini says

    November 2, 2020 at 4:00 pm

    Thanks for the response! Yes I was thinking of making the aubergine ahead and doing the rest on the night. Thanks again 🙂

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 3, 2020 at 6:30 pm

      That should work, good luck! Ania

      Reply
  13. RedPanda says

    November 14, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    Hi Ania. We had this for dinner last night and I just wanted to let you know how great it was — delicious with complex flavours. I served it with steamed Chinese greens with your Sesame Dressing — yummy!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 16, 2020 at 3:37 pm

      I’m so happy to hear that, Susan! Your sides sound delicious. And thank you so much for taking the time to let me know – much appreciated! Ania

      Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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