Spicy pan braised shark

Sometimes, my cooking has become so dogmatic that the same ingredients is cooked exactly the same way over and over. Today I decided to try out a different combination---a spicy shark, braised in pan. When cooking fish in a pan, movement should be minimized. Seasoning is sprinkled on top of the meat. Then, the meat is allowed to cook by the steam.

Recipe: Pan braised spicy shark (for 6-8)

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs shark fillet, trimmed of skin, and cut to 2-3" pieces.
- 1/4 cup Sichuan chili sauce

- 1 tablespoon (TB) oil

- 2 TB garlic powder

- 1/2 teaspoon (tp) extra hot chili powder 

- 1.5 TB soy sauce
- 1/3 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/4 tp salt (to taste)
- 1 TB tomato sauce
- 1/4 tp huajiao pepper corns
- 4-5 stalks spring onion, sliced
- 2 Thai eggplants, quartered
- 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
- 1-2 cup white meat stock

Procedure:
1. Heat Sichuan chili sauce in oil in a nonstick pan, large enough to hold all the shark meat in one layer. When it sizzles, add shark meat pieces on the pan. Cook on med-high heat until the side facing the pan is slightly golden.
2. Flip each piece of shark once to cook the opposite side. Sprinkle garlic powder and hot chili powder on the top face of the shark meat. Add Thai eggplant to the pan, filling in the gaps between the shark pieces. Mix soy sauce, cooking wine, salt. Add the mixture to the pan, being careful not to wash away the seasoning on top of the shark meat. The level of the liquid in the pan should be up to half the height of the meat. Add meat stock if necessary to make up for the level of the liquid. Cover lid and allow to boil on medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the shark meat is just cooked. At this point, the shark meat should be firm, and only flakes very slightly.
3. When the shark is just done, remove the pieces from the pan. Add onion slices and huajiao pepper to pan and fry slightly. Then add 1 cup of meat stock to dilute the liquid. Add tomato sauce. Turn heat up to med-high. Cover lid and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes until onion is soft and the liquid has thickened to a gravy. Add spring onion and stir until the spring onion curls up. Pour the gravy with the spring onion on top of the shark meat. Serve hot.