Thank you for your question. The purpose of the peanut oil is that you don’t want the dish to taste like the flavor of the oil. If you don't want to use peanut oil, you can use any neutral oil (e.g., avocado oil, vegetable oil, or grape seed oil). The cut of the eggplant doesn’t matter that much but just make sure the cuts you do are large.
Thank you for your question. The purpose of the peanut oil is that you don’t want the dish to taste like the flavor of the oil. If you don't want to use peanut oil, you can use any neutral oil (e.g., avocado oil, vegetable oil, or grape seed oil). The cut of the eggplant doesn’t matter that much but just make sure the cuts you do are large.