EGGPLANT WITH GARLIC SAUCE or 鱼(Yú)香(Xiāng)茄(Qié)子(Zi) (V)

MAIN INGREDIENTS: fresh eggplant, wood ear mushrooms (optional), lettuce roots (optional), pickled gingers (optional), pickled chili peppers, scallions, garlic cloves

HISTORY: 鱼(Yú)香(Xiāng)茄(Qié)子(Zi) has the word fish in it but only contains eggplants. It is said that long ago, a housewife developed a delicious fish dish using a unique combination of seasonings. After preparing the dish on one occasion, she wished to put the leftover seasonings to good use. She decided to try re-purposing her fish recipe to eggplant stir-fry. When her husband returned home that day, he was so hungry, he barely noticed that he was eating eggplant instead of fish. This new dish, as well as its unique combination of seasonings, eventually became quite popular enough to inspire Sichuanese to create variants using to include liver, pork, and more.