Sichuan stuffed fried eggplant

Cut the lean pork into sheets, stack and cut into slivers, then align and cut into a rough dice. Do the same with the fat.

Combine lean and fat and chop four or five minutes to a rough ground-pork texture.

Add the minced ginger and scallion white, then marinate with the salt, sugar, cornstarch, light soy sauce, liaojiu and white pepper.

Mix thoroughly about a minute, add the water and mix another minute to make the filling juicier. Set aside.

Toast the whole Sichuan peppercorns over a medium flame about two minutes, until they leave oil splotches on the pan or bumps form on the husk.

Grind the toasted peppercorns in a mortar with the salt and MSG.

Cut the eggplant in about half an inch and slice down 90 percent of the way, then move over another half inch and cut all the way through, giving a pocket. Cut it last, because cut eggplant oxidizes and browns.

Mix the 20 g all-purpose flour with the 10 g cornstarch and dust the eggplant slices, sprinkling a little inside the pocket so the filling sticks. Knock off the excess.

Stuff each pocket with about a teaspoon of the pork filling, squeeze it lightly shut and make sure no pork is spilling out.

Mix the 50 g AP flour, 20 g cornstarch, five spice powder and salt, add the water and mix about a minute, without overworking it or the gluten will make the coating hard.

Heat about four cups of oil in a wok over max flame to about 180C.

Give each eggplant piece three or four flips in the batter and drop it in; fry at about 145C for five minutes, flipping periodically, until golden brown. Work in two batches in a smaller wok.

Remove, bring the oil up to 200C and return the pieces for a final 30 seconds to crisp them.

Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and serve with the salt and peppercorn mix for dipping.

For a larger meal, do the first fry ahead to set the pieces and the second fry right before eating.