There seems to be a plethora of different Spicy Asian Eggplant dishes out there. I’m not sure of the exact origin of the spicy asian eggplant dish – for sure it’s a variety of Southern Chinese cooking. However, there are variations such as Cantonese-style or Sichuan-style in that variety of regional cooking as well. All I know is that I love them all. My Vegan Keto Spicy Asian Air Fryer Eggplant recipe combines my love of all varieties of Asian-style cooking along with the humble eggplant all in one simple air fryer dish that takes 10 – 15 minutes to prepare (depends on how fast you can clean and chop up an eggplant), that is delicious and healthy! As is the case with many of my air fryer recipes there’s only one dish to clean at the end as well 🙂
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This ultra-quick and easy dish does require a few Asian sauces that you may or may not be familiar with. You should be able to find these specialty sauces in most Asian grocery stores, or even larger supermarkets that have an ethnic food section, but I’ve included Amazon links to purchase in case you can’t find them at your supermarket.
Doubanjang is a umami-filled cooking sauce made of fermented broad beans that is a staple of Sichuan cooking. I consider it one of the “mother sauces” of Sichuan style cooking. It is to Sichuan cooking, what béchamel is to French cooking.
Lao Gan Ma is another ingredient that might be novel to some of you. Lao Gan Ma is a smoky chili oil with fried chilies, peanuts and other aromatics. I put it on everything – soups, stir-fries, noodles etc. It’s like next level sriracha for chili snobs.
Gochujang is a spicy red pepper paste used extensively in Korean cuisine. I would consider this of the “mother sauces” of Korean cooking. It’s got the texture of light tomato paste, and packs a slightly sweet, spicy kick that can activate a slow burn on the palate depending on how it’s used.
Salted radish is a common ingredient in southern Chinese cooking. It’s an optional ingredient in this dish, but adds another umami dimension to the dish if you’re able to include it.
Spicy Asian Eggplant dishes often feature ground pork – but in this dish, I used Yves Veggie ground – because I always have a block of it in the refrigerator. So this dish is both Keto-friendly and vegan! Adding the vegetarian ground also ups the protein in this dish – giving each serving 9 grams of protein, and 7 grams of net carbs.
Overall this delicious vegan, low-carb recipe is both super easy to make, and nutritionally balanced.
Vegan Keto Spicy Asian Air Fryer Eggplant
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 Asian Eggplant (or 1.5 cups of chopped eggplant)
- 1/4 package Yves Veggie Ground (approximately 100g)
- 1 tbsp Minced garlic (I use jarred minced garlic to save time)
- 2 tsp Doubanjiang (see post above for more details)
- 2 tsp Lao Gan Ma (see post above for more details)
- 1 tsp Gochujang – Korean red pepper paste (see post above for more details)
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
- 1 Green onion chopped
- 3 tbsp Pickled Asian Radish (optional)
Instructions
- Place preserved asian radish in a bowl of hot water (if using)
- Wash eggplant, half and chop into slices – place slices into air fryer safe stainless steel bowl. if you do not have a stainless steel bowl that fits into your air fryer, just place directly into your air fryer.
- Add sesame oil, Yves veggie ground veggie, garlic, doubanjang, lao gan ma, korean chili paste and mix in with the eggplant until well coated.
- Drain asian preserved radish (if using) and mix into eggplant. Place into Air fryer and cook at 400F for 8 minutes.
- Top with chopped green onion, eat alone, or serve with steamed cauliflower rice (or rice – if you're not concerned about carbs).
