This eggplant unagi (or rather, “unagi”) is indeed reminiscent of a Japanese eel, with a similar sweet, savory sauce. But instead of eel, the main event is eggplant!
Where We Got This Idea
In our family, sharing recipe ideas is a constant…a way of life.
Sometimes, ideas come from simply reading over old recipes, eating out in restaurants, or random shower thoughts. (Ideas ranging from how to achieve the perfect egg tart dough to making cinnamon rolls with our milk bread recipe have indeed come to us while washing our hair!)
This one though, came as a message from my mom, who was browsing recipe videos on the Chinese Internet. The video showed eggplant being steamed, fanned out into flat pieces, pan-fried, and then quickly braised in a dark sauce.
It struck me that the result looked a lot like Japanese unagi, or eel. The kind that you might find on top of a bed of sushi rice.
And so, this recipe was born. I made some adjustments to the Chinese version, like using mirin instead of Chinese Shaoxing wine and adding fish sauce for a little of that umami, funky edge.
Then of course, I proceeded to google “eggplant unagi” and found that I’m not the first person to think of this! In fact, our friends at Just One Cookbook have posted a similar recipe, except it DOES have eel in addition to eggplant.
In any case, I could see myself taking down this meal on any weeknight with a big pack of roasted seaweed and sliced avocado. Perhaps with a little bok choy on the side for health. Not a bad way to do dinner on a Thursday night!
Recipe Instructions
For this recipe, we used eggplants that my parents grew themselves in their garden. It’s been a great harvest so far this year:
Peel the eggplants, and slice them in half crosswise, so you have thick pieces that are about 6 inches (15 cm) long. Place the pieces in a heatproof dish.
Boil water in your steamer (or your wok with a bamboo steamer, or even just a pan with a steamer rack and lid. Read more about how to set up a steamer). Steam the eggplant over medium heat for 16-18 minutes, until a knife pierces through the eggplant easily.
After they’ve been steamed and are cool enough to handle, slice the steamed eggplants in half lengthwise, but not all the way through! Open each piece up like a book. Use two forks to open up the flesh of the eggplant even more. This creates more surface area for the sauce you’ll braise it in later.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Pan-fry the eggplant on both sides until golden brown on each side. (If you need additional oil, you can add 1 more tablespoon).
Meanwhile, combine the light soy sauce, mirin, water, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a small bowl.
Pour the sauce mixture into the eggplant, and simmer until reduced by half.
Run each piece of eggplant through the sticky sauce before placing onto a bed of steamed rice. Top with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve.
Eggplant “Unagi”
Ingredients
- 1 pound Japanese or Chinese eggplant (about 2-3 eggplants)
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sugar (to taste)
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- steamed rice (for serving)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Peel the eggplants, and slice them in half crosswise, so you have thick pieces that are about 6 inches (15 cm) long. Place the pieces in a heatproof dish.
- Boil water in your steamer (or your wok with a bamboo steamer, or even just a pan with a steamer rack and lid. Read more about how to set up a steamer). Steam the eggplant over medium heat for 16-18 minutes, until a knife pierces through the eggplant easily.
- After they’ve been steamed and are cool enough to handle, slice the steamed eggplants in half lengthwise, but not all the way through! Open each piece up like a book. Use two forks to open up the flesh of the eggplant even more. This creates more surface area for the sauce you’ll braise it in later.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Pan-fry the eggplant on both sides until golden brown on each side. (If you need additional oil, you can add 1 more tablespoon).
- Meanwhile, combine the light soy sauce, mirin, water, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a small bowl.
- Pour the sauce mixture into the eggplant, and simmer until reduced by half. Run each piece of eggplant through the sticky sauce before placing onto a bed of steamed rice. Top with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve.
I’m a huge Eggplant fan and this was amazing.
Thank you Connie!
Eating this right now and in amazement that this is eggplant. What an incredible recipe! Thank you for sharing!!
You’re very welcome!! :)
Whoops, I forgot to rate this recipe when I commented a minute ago… Would give it 10 stars if I could!!
Aw, thank you so much Shana!
Oh YES! Hubby and I are unagi-lovers, but can’t get any good eel where we now live, even in prepared sushi. No Asian markets around, either. Luckily, one gal at our Farmer’s Mkt does grow lovely Japanese eggplants — so I made this today. Many many happy moans from hubby — it was soooo delicious! Did double the sauce, may triple it next time so our rice soaks up the tasty flavors. May add some basil for a riff on basil-eggplant as well. THANKS a million for this great recipe!!
Hahah thank you so much, Shana! So glad you both loved it.
This was excellent! We really enjoyed it. I agree with some of the posts – next time I’ll double the sauce. Served it with an Asian grilled flank steak and it was yummy. The toasted sesame seeds are a must.
Thank you Nancy!
My eggplant turned to mush when I fried it, but we ate it anyway. The sauce had a convincing seafood flavor that was just right, so I would make it again but using my method of slicing, salting and baking the eggplant.
Hi Lisa, it sounds like the eggplant may have been just a bit oversteamed? Perhaps the heat was a little too high, or the eggplants were just smaller. Your method sounds ok too!
Excellent recipe. A wonderful way to prepare eggplant. I doubled the sauce and substituted brown sugar for white. Thanks again! Your family rocks my kitchen.
You’re very welcome, Daniel!
This looks so delicious! Eggplant is one of my favourite things, and I love the sauce that comes with unagi. I can’t wait to try it! I do have a quick question, though — if I were to cook this for my vegan friends, I know you can find vegetarian oyster sauce out there, but do you advise a substitute for fish sauce, or do you think I should just leave it out?
Hi Jessica, you can just leave it out!
We just made this twice in one day from a baseball bat of a zucchini. We scooped out the seeds and skipped the steaming. DELICIOUS! Thank you!!!!!
You’re welcome, Amy! lol a baseball bat of zucchini. I can relate!
Ooh I’ll have to try this with zucchini! Our eggplants don’t have any fruit yet but we do have a bunch of summer squash.
Delicious! I had to make double the sauce because I think I had way more eggplant than the recipe called for (did not weigh my eggplants lol) but the color and flavor was A+. I haven’t had eggplant in years because I don’t really like the texture but this was really good!
Thank you Kathy! Glad you enjoyed it!