I found a wonderful lunch special! You get to choose *two* small dishes, mostly seafood, and they round it out with rice (zakkokumai), a very veggie rich miso soup, salad, and konnyaku with zha cai pickles.
I chose an oyster omelet with sweet and sour sauce, which came with surprise spring bamboo (one of my favorite things), plus agebitashi eggplant and chicken, which came with surprise atsuage tofu (also one of my favorite things!). Because of all of these surprises, and the unlikely soundtrack of REM and Eve, I’m inclined to think this was a fever dream, so it’s a good thing I took pictures.
By the way, agebitashi 揚げ浸し essentially means “fried and soaked” and that’s a straightforward name: you deep fry something (usually tofu or eggplant), drain it, and then soak it into a soy/dashi sauce. It’s super delicious and juicy, one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant.
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My new favorite cookbook has a recipe for eggplant agebitashi that I’ve tried out a few times. Basically, you make cuts in the eggplant hasselback style (bottom picture, using chopsticks to stop the knife from going all the way through), deep fry it, and then, while it’s piping hot, plop it into a bowl of tangy sauce. I love this dish so much, and it’s good practice for knife skills and frying.
Usually it’s made with small Japanese eggplants, like on top, but I really enjoyed it with the large green eggplant; I think it stood up to the grease better. Once I get it a little less oily, I’ll post the recipe.
Not a proper bento today, but I wanted to eat agebitashi, which is deep-fried veggies soaked in a savory-sweet vinegar marinade.... it tastes a lot better than it sounds, and is refreshing in hot weather when you don’t have much of an appetite!
First things first, Agebitashi means “deep fried” in Japanese. So this is actually a Yakimashita Nasu but soaked into the traditional Agebitashi eggplant sauce. I wanted to make a healthier alternative to one of my favorite Japanese dishes by changing the process from deep fried to baked. The baking option stops the oil from soaking in, keeps the eggplant intact yet retaining the original taste by using the same sauce. By baking we keep the structure of the eggplant, as braising the eggplant would only make it water logged and overly soft; and grilling or roasting would cause the eggplant to dry out and become tough.
Therefore this healthy alternative Japanese eggplant recipe takes planning, as it takes an hour or more to bake the eggplant, then an hour to soak the eggplant into a dashi sauce.
This eggplant dish is really flavorful and on the salty side, and goes well with a traditional Japanese meal, but I use it as a side for Japanese inspired dishes such as Miso Black Cod or Miso Salmon and the always versatile ramen noodles and rice.
Ingredients
For the marinade
3 cup of water. (720 ml)
1 pack of Dashi. (Follow the directions of each packet though of the proportions. They vary.)
1 1/2 table spoon of sugar
4 tbs Mirin (60 ml)
4 tbs sake (60 ml)
The Main Dish
Chives for garnish.
8 Japanese eggplants, the are the dark purple long thin ones. (Left bottom in photo)
Can be substituted with the light purple Chinese eggplants (on the right), or the thick Italian eggplants (right back). If you use the thick round Italian ones, buy 4 and expect the cook time might be up to two hours.
HOW TO:
Baking the Eggplant.
Set over to 375F (175c)
1) Cover a baking dish with Tin Foil.
2) Wash and dry eggplant. DO NOT PRICK or SCORE. Place it in on the pan middle rack.
3) Mix marinade ingredients together and set it aside.
4) Turn the eggplants over every 20 minutes.
5) Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 20s minutes, until it’s soft in the middle and the outside is crispy like a shell of an egg. (Cook time varies depending on thickness of eggplant)
6) Crack the skin of the eggplant exposing the flesh,
7) Cover the eggplant completely with dashi sauce in a bowl or a dish.
8) Soak for an hour. (If you like really salty leave for longer)
9) If you put it on a plate as a side, soak the eggplant on a paper towel so the sauce doesn’t mix with everything. Alternatively just serve in in a separate bowl.
10) Garnish with chopped chives.
Can eat with: Nobu’s Black Cod Recipe
Miso Black Cod
Baked Japanese Eggplants Recipe (Healthy Agebitashi Eggplant Alternative.) First things first, Agebitashi means “deep fried” in Japanese. So this is actually a Yakimashita Nasu but soaked into the traditional Agebitashi eggplant sauce.
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LAZY AGEBITASHI - Japanese style deep fried eggplant
Agebitashi is a Japanese deep fried eggplant appetizer in dashi sauce with daikon, ginger and scallions. If you're into Japanese cooking you'll like this. If you're really, really into Japanese cooking, you'll probably be annoyed. But if you're lazy, and into Japanese cooking, then this is for you!
This dish, Agebitashi, is an appetizer of deep fried eggplant. It's not terribly difficult to make, and is pretty damn tasty. Also, the longer you let it sit before serving, the less you'll get that "eggplant numbs my tongue" feeling that is common.
Agebitashi means "fried soaking" in Japanese, and we're going to do both. You'll sometimes hear you need to soak aubergines before cooking, but I think this might be a bit of a myth. Scoring and salting them is also common, usually to try and reduce bitterness. I say, just buy fresh produce and don't worry too much. We're going to do some scoring, to absorb more goodness, and the sauce will take care of the salt. Some recipes call for "Japanese eggplant", but I couldn't find any and just used regular ol' ones and it seemed to turn out fine.
If you're vegetarian, you can skip the bonito flakes and dashi broth (bonito fish broth). If you're gluten intolerant, you can substitute gluten free soy sauce.
PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES
MARINADE TIME: 2 HOURS - OVERNIGHT
COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Small saucepan
Large saucepan
Collander or draining rack
Medium tupperware or casserole dish
Bonito flakes (optional)
INGREDIENTS:
One large eggplant
2 cups vegetable oil
One small daikon radish
Small piece of fresh ginger
One scallion (green onion)
For the sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup dashi broth (optional, substitute kombu - seaweed and shiitake mushrooms boiled for stock, which also tastes good added to the above, just not as lazy!!)
(For the lazy dashi broth method, you can buy dashi packets at PAT Central or Lazy Moose, like the one below.)
METHOD:
In a small covered saucepan, mix the dashi packet with 3/4 cup water, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp sake and 1 tbsp sugar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit.
Wash your eggplant. Cut off the top, and cut in half lengthwise.
Score the eggplant at an angle across its width, at 1/8 inch intervals. Use a really sharp knife to make this easy. Slice the skin open, but don't cut deeply, just enough to cut the skin.
Cut the eggplant into 3 inch pieces, about 6 pieces total.
In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups of vegetable oil to boil.
Carefully place 3 pieces of eggplant into the boiling oil, skin down, and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove and place skin up in the collander to drain. Repeat with the other 3 pieces. Let the eggplant cool for 5 minutes or more.
Once cool, place the eggplant skin up in a tupperware or casserole dish that fits them snugly. Pour the sauce into the container and let sit for at least 2 hours.
When you're ready to serve, place one or two of the eggplant pieces in a small bowl. Peel and grate the daikon on top, and grate a small amount of ginger on that. Pour the remaining sauce around the edge, and garnish with chopped scallions.
豆腐の揚げ浸し // Fried & Soaked Tofu
Agebitashi (揚げ浸し）is a cooking technique where ingredients are flash fried and then soaked in dashi broth. It’s great with eggplant or any veggies, but tofu is probably my favorite, so soft on the inside with dashi seeping through the crispy shell. Here it’s topped with momiji oroshi (grated daikon with chili), green onions, and seaweed.
