Crispy Eggplant with Fish Fragrant Sauce

Name: Crispy Eggplant with Fish Fragrant Sauce
Yield: Serves 4–6 as part of a banquet
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic; 100 g (3½ oz) liquid glucose; 100 ml (3½ fl oz) Chinese red vinegar; 3 bird’s eye chillies, very finely chopped; 60 g (2¼ oz) tapioca flour; 2 tablespoons chilli bean paste; 15 g (½ oz) xanthan gum; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons Lao Gan Ma chilli oil (with peanuts); 1 tablespoon very finely chopped ginger; 6 Japanese eggplants (long thin aubergine), peeled, cut into batons about 5 × 1.5 cm (2 × 5/8 inch); 1 small handful of baby coriander leaves and sesame seeds, to garnish; 50 g (1¾ oz/⅓ cup) sesame seeds; 70 g (2½ oz) soy paste; 100 ml (3½ fl oz) light soy sauce; vegetable oil, for deep-frying; 2 small long red chillies, thinly sliced into rounds; sprigs from ½ bunch coriander (cilantro), finely chopped; 2 teaspoons ground Sichuan pepper; 2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped; 2½ tablespoons Chinkiang black vinegar; 450 g (1 lb) caster (superfine) sugar; 3 tablespoons fried shallots (Essentials); ½ teaspoon chilli flakes; 60 g (2¼ oz) rice flour

Preparation info

Serves
4–6
as part of a banquet

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Mr Hong

By Dan Hong

Published 2014

About

This dish was created by one of my old sous chefs, Victor Liong, after he ate at Dainty Sichuan, Melbourne. Fish fragrant sauce doesn’t actually have any fish in it, but the sweet, sour and spicy elements in the sauce are traditionally used to cook Sichuan fish dishes, and it gives this dish its name.

Ingredients

Fish Fragrant Sauce

450 g (1 lb) caster (superfine) sugar
100 g (

Asia
China
Main course
Starter
Spicy

Method

Fish Fragrant Sauce

Put the sugar and liquid glucose in a large saucepan and add 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) water. Whisk over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar, t