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Chicken Stir Fry with Eggplant and Tomatoes – Marinated chunks of chicken, stir fried with chunks of eggplants and tomatoes with a tasty sauce! The sauce this one comes with is so yummy on white rice, or you can mix it with some noodles too!

Type of Eggplants

There are several types of eggplant varieties – American, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, etc.

For this recipe, we will be using Chinese Eggplants.

Chinese Eggplants

Of the asian variety of eggplants, Chinese eggplants are a lot thinner than American and Italian eggplants. They have a thinner skin and are less bitter as it has less seeds (the seeds are what makes an eggplant slightly bitter).  

Since Chinse eggplants have a sweeter flesh with tender skin, which makes them perfect for stir fry and sauté recipes.

They are actually very similar to Japanese eggplants, but Chinese eggplants are a lot lighter in color. It’s good to know though, that you can easily substitute these two types of eggplants interchangeably in recipes as they cook similarly.

For this recipe, if you can’t find Chinese eggplants, but find some Japanese eggplants, you can substitute with Japanese eggplants.

By the way, if you love eggplant dishes, be sure to also check out my Chinese Eggplants in Garlic Sauce or Thai Basil Eggplant Stir Fry!

Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce is actually literally made by cooking oysters! It’s usually made from oyster extracts, sugar, salt and cornstarch. If you think that’s gross because you hate the taste of seafood, for some reason, the fishy seafood taste isn’t actually… noticeable. I legit grew up not realizing that oyster sauce even had seafood in it. The flavor of oyster sauce is sweet and savory.

If you are vegan or vegetarian, you are in luck!

There are vegan / vegetarian oyster sauces – they are made with mushrooms instead of Oyster sauce. And this sauce is actually very tasty. I normally don’t prefer the vegetarian/vegan version of things that are normally not vegetarian/vegan, but I actually prefer the mushroom oyster sauce to the normal one!

Some of my fave dishes to make with Oyster sauce is this Beef and Onion Stir Fry, and Shiitake Mushrooms Stir Fry with peppers!

You should be able to find oyster sauce in Asian super markets or maybe even the international sections of regular grocery stores. If not, you can also check out Amazon:

L.k.k Panda Brand Oyster Sauce

Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce

Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce (Vegan/Vegetarian *** My Favorite ***)

Chili Bean Paste

Chilli Bean Paste aka Doubanjiang 豆瓣酱, is a chunky sauce you can buy at the store that is spicy and savory. It’s traditionally made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt and flour. There are also different ones you can find, for example some will add spicy chili oil in it already.

Chili Bean Paste is often used in Sichuan food (ex: mapo tofu), which might explain why I love it because I love Sichuan food (and my grandma was from there!). I use it in my Szechuan Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork and Jalapeno Chicken.

On Amazon:

Sichuan Pixian Boad Bean Paste with Red Chili Oil

Lee Kum Kee LKK Chili Bean Sauce

How to cook Chicken Stir Fry with Eggplant and Tomatoes

First gather your ingredients:

• 1 lb Chicken, cut in to chunks
• Marinade:
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 3 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp rice wine (aka michiu)
• 5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 Chinese eggplants, cut in to chunks
• 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• Cooking oil/fat of choice
• 1 medium tomato, cut in to wedges
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp doubanjiang (aka chili bean paste)
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt, to taste

Combine chicken with marinade ingredients and set aside. Let it marinade for at the very least 15 minutes. You can marinate up to overnight, but place in fridge if marinating over 30 mins.

While you wait for the marinade, place eggplants in a bowl and fill with water. Add salt and either vinegar or lemon juice, and mix well. Allow it to soak for about 15 minutes. This helps keep the eggplants from browning and helps keep it more ‘purple’.

Remove from water, and pat dry with paper towel.

When ready to cook, in a wok or cooking pan, heat up 1 tbsp vegetable oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and stir fry about a minute, and then add chicken. Stir fry together until the meat is slightly browned (about 2-3 mins). Remove from heat and set aside.

Add a little more cooking oil if pan is dry, then add tomatoes. Stir fry for about 2 minutes or until tomatoes begin to soften. Then add eggplants and chili bean paste, oyster sauce, sugar and rice wine, and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until eggplants soften.

Add chicken back in to pan, and stir fry everything until cooked thoroughly.

Remove from heat and serve!

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