Eggplant and garlic stirfry
At our local chinese restaurant this is a big hit: especially at lunch where some people have it alone as lunch.
Cut an eggplant in 1 cm cubes. (Approximately the breadth of an adult index finger nail - unless you are particularly large or small!) Choose a younger, smaller eggplant.
Finely chop garlic cloves, 10-15 to taste.
In a fry pan put 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil (we would like to use olive oil but it smokes at the temperature needed for fast stir-frying). Our chinese restaurant uses peanut oil. Eggplant absorbs oil especially at lower temperatures, so keep the oil hot. Put on a high heat and when the oil shimmers, add the eggplant. Stir rapidly. After 1 minute add the garlic. (Garlic becomes bitter if it burns, so we do not add it first.)
Stir 30 secs. more.
Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with a teaspoon of sesame oil, serve hot.
Eggplant is a great source of plant sterols which interfere with the absorption of cholesterol. When you eat, the body puts bile fluid into the small intestine to digest fat. Bile contains the cholesterol break-down products that the body is trying to get rid of. Some of this cholesterol is reabsorbed, re-digested. Plant sterols interfere with this reabsorption.