Reviewed: Oct. 14, 2009

Based on the other reviews, I suspected I'd need more sauce & less red wine vinegar. Conveniently, I had no red wine vinegar, so I used cooking rice wine. I've found that when I cook eggplant, I need to cook it a lot longer than the recipe calls for and add a few cups of water along the way. I did that. I also added shrimp at the time of combining all the ingredients. It seemed to need something at the end, so I tossed in a healthy amount of extra sherry & soy sauce, to good effect. I did not use peanuts as they didn't seem a match. I am not a big noodle fan, but when I tasted it, I knew it needed crispy noodles, so I made them, using the mung bean noodles I had on hand. Next time, I'll use a little less ginger & some cayenne.

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Reviewer:

MonkeyGirl

Reviewed: Aug. 19, 2009

At first, the flavors of this dish were delightful, but after 3-4 bites, I realized that the vegetable base needs something. Not sure what. This clearly was written as a vegetarian recipe but if I were to make it a second time (doubtful) I'd add sauteed chicken or pork to give more texture to the vegetables. I loved making the crispy noodles. Hadn't done that before. I learned a few things and am confident that next time I could improve on my technique. It was a fun recipe to try; it used up some Asian eggplants that are growing prolifically in my garden and it gave me an opportunity to try something new. Thanks for contributing it, Jen.

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Reviewer:

Paula

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA

Living In: Exeter, New Hampshire, USA

Reviewed: Apr. 22, 2009

I was really just looking for tips on how to cook noodles, I didn't try the rest of the recipe but the sauce looks quite similar to the standard Asian sweet stir fry. For my noodles I used soumen (japanese fettucine) because I had a lot, and I wanted a really thin crispy noodle like what you get at Chinese restaurants. I think they worked out really good but would have been better if they were more dried out. Kinda like old rice for fried rice. So I'm going to let my extra noodles sit in the frig and try it again soon. Thanks!

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Reviewer:

Heidi

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

Living In: Lima, Ohio, USA

Reviewed: Feb. 2, 2009

When I first read this recipe I was intrigued by the mixture of ingredients in the sauce. Too many strong flavors! Nothing really blended. You would get sherry in one bite, vinegar in the next, fish sauce in yet another. I make many Chinese dishes and this was easy but the measurements required too many utensils. Cups plus measuring spoons for almost each of the ingredients. Wierd. Once assembled the vegetables were soggy. I really don't have any suggestions to make this better. Pass on this recipe

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Reviewer:

Nala

Reviewed: Apr. 22, 2008

eggplant_NO WAY!!! the noodle were soggy, did not like it

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Reviewer:

Erin

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: May 27, 2004

I don't know about this one. I do suggest taking the skin off the eggplant before cubing. I felt the red wine vinegar flavor sort of overpowered the whole dish. It is definitely an acquired taste. Boyfriend was less than enthused over this dish. I probably won't attempt this again, although it was not a difficult recipe...

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9 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

LILSPINSTER

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Feb. 23, 2004

This dish is absolutely delicious!! I wasn't sure when I saw the combination of ingredients but in my search for great tasting vegetarian recipes I gave it a shot and I am so glad I did! The end result is wonderful. I will say that it is not very kid friendly as 3 of my 4 children wouldn't touch it but my husband and I loved it so it will be a staple in my house from now on. Serving it with the crispy noodles on top makes for a nice presentation so it would be a really nice meal to make for company. Thank you for the excellent recipe!!

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Reviewer:

LEAHZ

Reviewed: Jan. 23, 2004

I too LOVE this recipe.

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Reviewer:

Abby M

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2003

I cooked this for my family; it was a hit. There were three things I changed that made this dish better for my family. *I increased the sauce, the amount suggested wasn't enough. *I substituted fish sauce with soy sauce *Also the noodles are supposed to be pan seared on BOTH sides, I only did one side. The wheat nooldes do get nice and crispy with the weight of the dishes on top but two sides of crunch is too much. By frying only one side of the noodles, you have a nice soft side which is a good contrast with the crispy side. Thank you to Jen for a delicious unique recipe.

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38 users found this review helpful