"A southern Chinese delicacy, stuffed vegetable and tofu dishes are very popular with the Hakka people. Traditionally, Asian eggplant is stuffed with a filling made with prawns and pork but I've just used prawns. Use large Japanese eggplant if available."
Hakka-style eggplant with prawn filling
Australian Gourmet Traveller Chinese recipe for Hakka-style eggplant with prawn filling.
- 20 mins preparation
- 20 mins cooking
- Serves 6
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Ingredients
- 3 Japanese eggplant
- For dusting: cornflour
- For shallow-frying: vegetable oil
- To serve: thinly sliced spring onion
Prawn stuffing
- 300 gm green prawn meat
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 20 ml Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
- 1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion
Oyster dipping sauce
- 165 ml (¾ cup) oyster sauce
- 60 ml (¼ cup) lime juice
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Method
- 1For prawn stuffing, process all ingredients except spring onion in a food processor to a coarse paste (1-2 minutes), transfer to a bowl, add spring onion and mix well to combine. Cover, refrigerate until required.
- 2For oyster dipping sauce, combine ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- 3Slice eggplant diagonally into 2cm-thick pieces, then halve each piece horizontally, without cutting all the way through, to make a pocket for stuffing. Spoon ½ tbsp prawn stuffing into each eggplant pocket, pressing to spread prawn stuffing evenly. Dust eggplant with cornflour, shaking off excess, and season with sea salt.
- 4Heat oil in a deep-sided frying pan or wok over medium-high heat until hot. Shallow-fry eggplant in batches, turning occasionally, until eggplant is tender and golden and prawn stuffing is cooked through (5-6 minutes). Drain on absorbent paper and serve hot with oyster dipping sauce.