Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant with Thickened Sauce
My Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant is deep-fried eggplant slices stuffed with prawn/shrimp paste. The soy and mirin based thickened sauce poured over the stuffed eggplants adds another dimension to the dish. Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant with Thickened Sauce can be a main as well as a side dish. It can even be a finger food.Cook Time assumes that the stuffed eggplant is deep-fried in 4 batches.Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 2 thin eggplants (( in total, note 1))
- 2 tbsp flour
- Oil to deep-fry
- 200 g prawns/shrimps peeled and deveined ((note 2))
- 1 tbsp finely chopped green onion
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- A pinch of salt
- 120 ml 4.1 fl oz dashi stock
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 3/4 tbsp corn flour/cornstarch
- 1 tbsp grated daikon (, excess liquid removed)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
Instructions
- 1
Put all the Thickened Sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat.
- 2
As the sauce warms up, the colour of the sauce changes from cloudy light brown to semi-transparent dark brown. Stir occasionally to avoid lumps in the sauce. When it starts boiling, turn the heat off.
- 3
Put all the Filling ingredients in a food processor and whizz until the mixture becomes paste (note 3). It is OK to have tiny prawn bits in the paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl.
- 4
Trim the stem off the eggplant. Starting from the trimmed end, slice the eggplant crosswise at 5mm/ 3⁄16" thick, leaving 5mm/ 3⁄16" uncut at the bottom. Then slice at 5mm/ 3⁄16" from the first cut all the way. This will make a disc with a deep incision in the centre.
- 5
Slice the rest of the eggplant in the same way until the end (note 4).
- 6
Place the flour on a plate or a tray. Dust the inside of the eggplant pieces with flour.
- 7
For each piece of eggplant, widen the opening and fill the inside with the prawn paste using a small spatula or a cutlery knife.
- 8
Smooth the surface of the prawn paste and coat all around the stuffed eggplant piece with flour.
- 9
Fill a deep-frying pan or a shallow saucepan with oil to 2-2.5cm/¾-1” deep (note 5). Heat the oil to 170°C/338°F.
- 10
Gently drop several eggplant pieces to the oil (do not overcrowd) and cook for 1 minute. Turn them over and cook further 1 minute, then transfer to a tray lined with a couple of pieces of kitchen paper.
- 11
Repeat until all eggplant is cooked.
- 12
Place the eggplant pieces in shallow serving bowls, pour the sauce over them.
- 13
Squeeze water out of grated daikon by pinching it with two fingers and a thumb, shaping into a small mountain. Place it on the eggplant pile, then place grated ginger on top of the daikon.