Yunnan-Style Spicy Pork–Stuffed Eggplant
This dish is a specialty of shaokao, or barbecue, cooks in China’s Yunnan province, and it leans on a fragrant spice mixture that includes dried chiles; Szechuan peppercorns; and the piny, fragrant black cardamom that is so important in central Yunnan cooking. Use a seedless Japanese eggplant; Italian varieties are generally too bitter and may have too many hard seeds.
September 2019