Di San Xian—Chinese Sautéed Potato Eggplants and Green Peppers

A popular vegan dish from Northern China –DiSanXian (地三鲜) made with the three most common vegetables in the Chinese daily market: potato, eggplants, and green peppers. This dish gives a slightly crispy potato texture, soft eggplant, and fresh green peppers.

What’s Di San Xian

Di San Xian (地三鲜) literally can be translated as the three treasures of the earth. In daily cooking, we are more likely to use seasonal and local fresh ingredients. The most famous version is with potatoes, eggplants, and green peppers. But they are never dull! You can combine some of them together and season them with different flavors.

The name Di San xian literally translates to “three fresh ingredients”, because all the ingredients are grown on the earth. Traditionally, the ingredients are deep-fried and then coated with a savory sauce. But we will use a shallow frying process which takes longer time and less oil.

How does it taste like

Basically, this dish has a sweet, garlicky, and savory taste. So is typically served with steamed white rice or noodles. The sauce will combine well with the staple food and makes it even better.

Make eggplant easier to cook

Sometimes we feel eggplant is quite hard to cook because it will absorb the oil at the first and make the food become greasy. Here is a tip about how to solve this.

1. Soak the eggplants in salty water for around 15 minutes. The water absorbed can help to fasten the cooking process.
2. Coat them with cornstarch, this helps to hold the shape of the eggplants.

How to cut the potatoes

You can choose to cut the potatoes either into slices or larger chunks. However, the treatment of the two might be slightly different. If you cut the potato into slices, you can use fry or sautee. However, for larger chunks, we recommend boiling them first and then frying them until a little bite crispy on the surface.

📖Steps

Soak the eggplants in slightly salted water for 15 minutes. Drain and then coat evenly with a thin layer of cornstarch. The eggplants can be softened even with a small amount of water. Drain completely.

In a small bowl, mix all of the stir-frying sauce together.

Heat oil in a wok (recommend adding more oil to fasten the process, do not worry, we will remove extra oil later) to form a 3 cm oil layer.

Place boiled potatoes in and fry until well cooked. Then place the eggplant in and gently fry during the process until well cooked.

Also, fry green pepper for 10 seconds.

Pour extra oil out and leave around ½ tablespoon of cooking oil in. Fry green onion white and garlic until aromatic. Place the stir-fry sauce in.

Wait for a while until boiling. Place potato, green pepper, and eggplants in. Fry until each piece is well coated.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Other Chinese Eggplants to try

Eggplant is my favorite ingredient for my daily cooking. Following are some of the most delicious eggplant dishes you must have a try.

Chinese Eggplants with Garlic Sauce

Savory Crispy Eggplants

Chinese Stuffed Eggplants

Chinese Eggplants with Minced Pork

Chinese Steamed Eggplant Recipe

Chinese Yu Xiang Eggplant Recipe

Di San Xian—Chinese Sautéed Potato Eggplants and Green Peppers

Famous Chinese Northern Dish- Di San Xi known as three treasures of the earth.

4.91 from 11 votes

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Eggplant, potatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 187kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

• 2 long eggplants , cut into 2cm chunks
• 1/4 cup cornstarch for coating
• 1 potatoes , cut into thick slices or chunks
• 1 green pepper , cut into small pieces
• 1 green onion , white part only, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , chopped
• oil for frying

Stir-frying sauce

• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 tbsp. water

Instructions

• Soak the eggplants in slightly salted water for 15 minutes. Drain completely and then coat evenly with a thin layer of cornstarch.
• In a small bowl, mix all of the stir-frying sauce together.
• If you cut potatoes in chunks, then cook the chunks in boiling water for around 4-5 minutes. Transfer out and drain.
• Heat oil in wok (recommend adding more oil to fasten the process, do not worry, we will remove extra oil later) to form a 3 cm oil layer.
• Place potatoes in and fry until the surface becomes slightly crispy. Then place the eggplant in and gently fry during the process until well cooked. Fry green pepper for 10 seconds.
• Pour extra oil out and leave around 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil in. Fry green onion and garlic until aromatic. Place the stir fry sauce in. Wait for a while until boiling. Place potato, green pepper and eggplants in. Fry until each piece is well coated.
• Serve hot with steamed rice.

Notes

Tip about the wet starch coating: if you prefer a thicker coating, you can double the amount or for a more clean and dry version, skip the wet starch.
Traditionally, this dish is deep-fried. If you are watching out the daily oil intake, you can fry all the ingredients with less oil. But the later method requires more time and patience.

Nutrition

Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 1314mg | Potassium: 445mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1.9mg