Hot and Sour Eggplant!!

I have a love/hate relationship with eggplant.  Mostly due to the slimy consistency it gets when a dim-witted fool is cooking it.  It is so versatile though!  Parmigiana, fried eggplant sticks, rollatini, grilled, and myriad other ways!
So last night I found a bag of mini eggplants in my crisper.  They needed to be cooked ASAP!
I cut them into 1 inch cubes, put them in a bowl of water and added a few tablespoons of salt.
That needed to sit for about 30 minutes or so. (they say it draws out much of the eggplant's bitter flavor)

While that was sitting,  I combined
2 Tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium, of course)
1 Tablespoon chili oil
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cracked red pepper flakes
a few grinds of pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
a few basil leaves
1 teaspoon potato starch (or cornstarch)


After the eggplant has soaked, rinse in a colander and drain .  Let it sit on a stack of paper towels to get off the excess moisture.
In a med-high skillet, put two tablespoons of coconut oil (or any oil with a high smoke point) and let get piping hot.
Add the eggplant and cook for about 10 minutes.  You'll want to move it around the pan a lot.  Gradually, it will get very brown and the skins will start to fade to a lighter purple.  The  eggplant may even get a little crispy!


When that's done, add all the cooked eggplant to a bowl and pour the sauce over it.  Mix it all up and Voila!  Deliciousness!!  I ate it with some NoOodles, but you can eat it plain, over any kind of pasta or rice, even toast!.  Enjoy!