I found a wonderful lunch special! You get to choose *two* small dishes, mostly seafood, and they round it out with rice (zakkokumai), a very veggie rich miso soup, salad, and konnyaku with zha cai pickles.
I chose an oyster omelet with sweet and sour sauce, which came with surprise spring bamboo (one of my favorite things), plus agebitashi eggplant and chicken, which came with surprise atsuage tofu (also one of my favorite things!). Because of all of these surprises, and the unlikely soundtrack of REM and Eve, I’m inclined to think this was a fever dream, so it’s a good thing I took pictures.
By the way, agebitashi 揚げ浸し essentially means “fried and soaked” and that’s a straightforward name: you deep fry something (usually tofu or eggplant), drain it, and then soak it into a soy/dashi sauce. It’s super delicious and juicy, one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant.
Not a proper bento today, but I wanted to eat agebitashi, which is deep-fried veggies soaked in a savory-sweet vinegar marinade.... it tastes a lot better than it sounds, and is refreshing in hot weather when you don’t have much of an appetite!
My new favorite cookbook has a recipe for eggplant agebitashi that I’ve tried out a few times. Basically, you make cuts in the eggplant hasselback style (bottom picture, using chopsticks to stop the knife from going all the way through), deep fry it, and then, while it’s piping hot, plop it into a bowl of tangy sauce. I love this dish so much, and it’s good practice for knife skills and frying.
Usually it’s made with small Japanese eggplants, like on top, but I really enjoyed it with the large green eggplant; I think it stood up to the grease better. Once I get it a little less oily, I’ll post the recipe.
LAZY AGEBITASHI - Japanese style deep fried eggplant
Agebitashi is a Japanese deep fried eggplant appetizer in dashi sauce with daikon, ginger and scallions. If you're into Japanese cooking you'll like this. If you're really, really into Japanese cooking, you'll probably be annoyed. But if you're lazy, and into Japanese cooking, then this is for you!
This dish, Agebitashi, is an appetizer of deep fried eggplant. It's not terribly difficult to make, and is pretty damn tasty. Also, the longer you let it sit before serving, the less you'll get that "eggplant numbs my tongue" feeling that is common.
Agebitashi means "fried soaking" in Japanese, and we're going to do both. You'll sometimes hear you need to soak aubergines before cooking, but I think this might be a bit of a myth. Scoring and salting them is also common, usually to try and reduce bitterness. I say, just buy fresh produce and don't worry too much. We're going to do some scoring, to absorb more goodness, and the sauce will take care of the salt. Some recipes call for "Japanese eggplant", but I couldn't find any and just used regular ol' ones and it seemed to turn out fine.
If you're vegetarian, you can skip the bonito flakes and dashi broth (bonito fish broth). If you're gluten intolerant, you can substitute gluten free soy sauce.
PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES
MARINADE TIME: 2 HOURS - OVERNIGHT
COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Small saucepan
Large saucepan
Collander or draining rack
Medium tupperware or casserole dish
Bonito flakes (optional)
INGREDIENTS:
One large eggplant
2 cups vegetable oil
One small daikon radish
Small piece of fresh ginger
One scallion (green onion)
For the sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup dashi broth (optional, substitute kombu - seaweed and shiitake mushrooms boiled for stock, which also tastes good added to the above, just not as lazy!!)
(For the lazy dashi broth method, you can buy dashi packets at PAT Central or Lazy Moose, like the one below.)
METHOD:
In a small covered saucepan, mix the dashi packet with 3/4 cup water, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp sake and 1 tbsp sugar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit.
Wash your eggplant. Cut off the top, and cut in half lengthwise.
Score the eggplant at an angle across its width, at 1/8 inch intervals. Use a really sharp knife to make this easy. Slice the skin open, but don't cut deeply, just enough to cut the skin.
Cut the eggplant into 3 inch pieces, about 6 pieces total.
In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups of vegetable oil to boil.
Carefully place 3 pieces of eggplant into the boiling oil, skin down, and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove and place skin up in the collander to drain. Repeat with the other 3 pieces. Let the eggplant cool for 5 minutes or more.
Once cool, place the eggplant skin up in a tupperware or casserole dish that fits them snugly. Pour the sauce into the container and let sit for at least 2 hours.
When you're ready to serve, place one or two of the eggplant pieces in a small bowl. Peel and grate the daikon on top, and grate a small amount of ginger on that. Pour the remaining sauce around the edge, and garnish with chopped scallions.
豆腐の揚げ浸し // Fried & Soaked Tofu
Agebitashi (揚げ浸し）is a cooking technique where ingredients are flash fried and then soaked in dashi broth. It’s great with eggplant or any veggies, but tofu is probably my favorite, so soft on the inside with dashi seeping through the crispy shell. Here it’s topped with momiji oroshi (grated daikon with chili), green onions, and seaweed.
