Colm O'Gorman's Korean stir-fried aubergine - a great vegetarian or vegan main course

Banchan Gaji Bokkeum, or stir-fried aubergine

Regular readers will by now be familiar with my love of Korean food. I first started to learn about it and to cook it during the covid lockdowns, and it is one of my favourite cuisines. Happily, it has become increasingly popular in recent years, and more Korean restaurants are opening across the country.

I was travelling for work recently and had dinner at a fabulous Korean barbecue restaurant. Korean barbecue is wonderful: It consists of lots of marinaded or select cuts of meat, usually beef, chicken, and pork, which is cooked by diners on a charcoal or gas grill in the centre of the table.

Korean barbecue is served with lots and lots of fabulous side dishes, known collectively as banchan. These side dishes always include rice and, of course, kimchi, as well as other sides, such as cheese corn, grilled vegetables, dipping sauces, and other cooked vegetable dishes. Banchan are essentially small side dishes that are served in the middle of the table to be shared.

I have featured lots of beautiful Korean-inspired recipes here in this column, such as beef Bulgogi, fire chicken, and my take on Korean beef short ribs, all of which would be perfect as a main course to serve with some banchan. Youi can find those recipes on ieFood. This week, though, I want to focus on a lovely vegetable banchan that also works beautifully as a vegan or vegetarian main course.

Banchan Gaji Bokkeum, or stir-fried aubergine, is made by cooking large pieces of aubergine over a high heat in a sweet, savoury, spicy sauce. The aubergine is seared in sesame oil, before roughly chopped green chillies are added and the vegetables finished in a sauce made with gochujang (Korean chilli paste), rice wine, sugar, soy sauce and garlic.

This dish is rich and deep and full of flavour. It is very substantial, almost meaty, even, which is why I think it works so well as a vegan main course.

I serve this with plain, boiled white rice, kimchi, some lettuce leaves, and freshly pickled cucumber. The lettuce leaves are used to wrap some of the aubergine and rice and then are eaten with the pickles and kimchi.

You will find gochujang in any good Asian supermarket, and all the other ingredients are widely available locally.

To make the pickled cucumber, heat 100ml of rice or white wine vinegar and 50g of caster sugar in a small pan, over a medium heat, until the sugar is dissolved. Add a little flaky sea salt; about a quarter of a teaspoon is plenty. Very thinly slice half a cucumber and pop it into a bowl. Pour over the vinegar and stir. The cucumber should be well-immersed in the pickling liquid. Set it aside while you cook the aubergine, and your cucumber will be ready by the time you are ready to eat. This pickle is beautifully fresh and crisp when it is just made, but it also stores for a week. You can keep any leftover pickles in a clean jar in your fridge, where it will last for at least a week or two.

If you really want meat for your dinner, then this dish is lovely as a side with some Korean fried chicken, or with steak. Grill your steak as usual and then let it rest, slathered in some gochujang, before serving it with the same sides as above.

Colm O'Gorman's Korean stir-fried aubergine

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This recipe serves two people as a main, or four as a side dish.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Korean

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines, about 500g in total

• 2-3 green chilis 

• 3 spring onions

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp gochujang

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp rice wine or sherry

• 2 tsp dark brown sugar

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Wash the aubergines and remove the stalks. Slice them in half lengthways and then into quarters, before cutting them into large chunks, about 5-6 cm long is perfect.

2. Wash the chillies before deseeding and roughly chopping them. Peel and grate the garlic. Wash the spring onions and chop the white sections, setting aside the greener stalks for now.

3. Pop the grated garlic, gochujang, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar and toasted sesame oil into a bowl and stir to combine.

4. Heat another tablespoon of sesame oil in a wok over a high heat. When the oil just begins to smoke, reduce the heat to medium and add the aubergine. Str fry for three to four minutes until the aubergine begins to soften and brown. Add the chopped chilli and stir fry for another two to three minutes.

5. Next, add the sauce, stir frying constantly to ensure that the aubergine is well coated. Continue to cook until the aubergine is soft and cooked through and glazed in the sticky sauce. If the wok begins to dry out as you cook, add a splash of water. Once the aubergine is cooked through, taste and add more seasoning if required.

6. Finally, thinly slice the remaining spring onion, I like to cut them into long strips on the diagonal as I love how that looks. Serve the aubergine on a warm platter with lots of fresh spring onion scattered across the top.