This recipe confuses me a bit. It's generally made as a simple sauté of garlic, onions, and eggplant in a generous quantity of oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. (Although my favourite versions include a splash of soy sauce and some toasted sesame seeds.) That's not the confusing part. The confusing part is that it's almost always written down as "eggplant, onion, garlic, oil". Which, while not inaccurate, is a slightly odd way to record it given Tyria's propensity for component cooking.

In other Tyrian recipes, you will see references to "tangy sautee mix". This is simply a combination of onion, garlic, and oil. In other words: The exact ingredients that get combined with the eggplant to make this sauté. So why not just specify the use of the sautee mix? I have no idea!

The recipes also generally make no mention of the salt and pepper. But that's nothing unusual for Tyrian cooking. While some recipes will call for salt and pepper explicity, its inclusion in many others is simply assumed. So that doesn't bother me so much. But the listing of each ingredient individually rather than referring the reader to the appropriate "mix" is quite surprising.

Oh well... Regardless of how it's written, this recipe makes a deceptively tasty side dish for something so simple! It makes an especially good accompaniment to a nice grilled steak, but is unassuming enough to work go nicely with many other dishes as well.

Eggplant Sautee

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 large (or 2 small) onions, quartered and sliced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Asian eggplants, halved and sliced on the bias
• salt and pepper, to taste
• water, as needed

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-low heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened and beginning to bown (~10 minutes).
3. Add the eggplant along with salt and pepper, stir to coat in oil, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to break down (15-20 minutes). If pan seems dry during cooking, add a splash of water to allow the eggplant to steam a little.
4. Serve as-is or with your favourite sauce.

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Variations

Sesame-Soy Eggplant Sautee

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 large (or 2 small) onions, quartered and sliced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Asian eggplants, halved and sliced on the bias
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• water, as needed
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds