Eggplant “Unagi” by: Sarah 0 Comments Jump to Recipe Posted:7/22/2021Updated:7/21/2021 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 taki

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