Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

Hoisin is seafood in the Cantonese language which is weird because there is no seafood involved.

There is only one shop in Siena where I could possibly find readymade hoisin sauce so, thanks to delicious.nl I make a home made version today. As ingredients you need brown miso (which I store in the freezer), rice vinegar, garlic, sunflower oil, honey, and the chinese 5spices mixture (clove, cinnamon, star anis, fennel and szechuan pepper.

Heat 2 table spoons of sunflower oil. Add 2 chopped garlic cloves, some chili flakes and 1/2 of teaspoon of the 5spices mixture. Stir and fry for a 30 seconds. Add 2 large table spoons of miso and 2 table spoons of honey. Keep on stirring until you obtain a smooth sauce. Add 2 table spoons of rice vinegar. Cool down. Store the hoisin sauce in the fridge ( can be stored for a few weeks).

The following recipe, a combination with eggplant marinated with hoisin sauce and a spicy peanut sauce is awesome.

Halve 2 eggplants. Make a few incisions in the meat. Spread some olive oil with a brush on each side. Bake in the oven at 200° for 20 mins. Spread some hoisin sauce on the meat side of the eggplant halves. Continue the baking for another 10 mins. Brush some more hoisin sauce on the eggplant halves. Continue the baking. Repeat this until the eggplant halves are ready, sticky and deep brown.

In the meanwhile, heat a sauce pan with 2 large table spoons of peanut butter, 2 grated garlic cloves, 1 table spoon of dark soy sauce, the zeste and juice of 1 lime, 2 teaspoons of sambal oelek and some water. Stir and add some spoons of water if necessary. Roast 2 table spoons of grinded peanuts. Chop 2 spring onions.

Marinate 1 sliced cucumber and 1 bunch of sliced radishes and 1 chopped chili in rice vinegar , sugar and some salt (make your own perfect balance).

Serve the eggplant with the peanut sauce and finish with the spring onion, peanut sauce and the marinated salad.