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Spicy Pork and Eggplant Stir-Fry

Indian summer signals the finale of deeply purple eggplants at the market. Toss cubes with tender pieces of pork in a fiery chili sauce. The eggplant flesh emerges from the wok seared on the outside but silken at heart.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Spicy Pork and Eggplant Stir-Fry

Why it works: Eggplant and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 801 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Spicy Pork and Eggplant Stir-Fry

Serves 4.

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

737Calories
37 gProtein
56 gFat
26 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Sriracha1 tsp (5g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Eggplant + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sesame + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together984 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Garlic + sesametop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the sriracha

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, eggplant, garlic, sauce, sesame, rice):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Srirachathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, eggplant, garlic, sauce, sesame, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.