Fried Eggplant with Chicken and Bean Sauce

The Japanese do many things with their eggplants—they pickle, roast, sauté, blanch, braise, steam and fry them, to be exact. Here, fried eggplant is napped with a sweet and pungent sauce. In a Japanese meal this might be the main or featured dish, accompanied by white rice, a clear soup and tart salt-pickled greens. A more Western approach might be to serve the eggplant with a fluffy omelet and a crisp green salad.