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: 60 g (2¼ oz) tapioca flour; 3 tablespoons fried shallots (Essentials); sprigs from ½ bunch coriander (cilantro), finely chopped; 1 small handful of baby coriander leaves and sesame seeds, to garnish; ½ teaspoon chilli flakes; 2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped; 70 g (2½ oz) soy paste; 100 ml (3½ fl oz) Chinese red vinegar; 2 tablespoons chilli bean paste; 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); 3 bird’s eye chillies, very finely chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; 15 g (½ oz) xanthan gum; 450 g (1 lb) caster (superfine) sugar; 2 teaspoons ground Sichuan pepper; 100 g (3½ oz) liquid glucose; 2 tablespoons Lao Gan Ma chilli oil (with peanuts); 2 small long red chillies, thinly sliced into rounds; 2½ tablespoons Chinkiang black vinegar; 50 g (1¾ oz/⅓ cup) sesame seeds; vegetable oil, for deep-frying; 60 g (2¼ oz) rice flour; 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic; 100 ml (3½ fl oz) light soy sauce

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.