Chilli and garlic eggplant salad from Spice by Christine Manfield

Ingredients

• 25 g castor sugar
• 30 ml White Chicken Stock or water
• 40 ml light soy sauce
• ½ cup coriander leaves
• 6 green onions, finely sliced
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• sea salt
• vegetable oil for deep-frying
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger
• 3 fresh red bird’s-eye chillies, minced
• 5 fresh black wood fungus, shredded
• 30 ml Chinese Shaoxing rice wine
• 30 ml rice vinegar
• 6 dried bird’s-eye chillies
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
• 3 large eggplants