Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with bouncy shrimp paste and soft, melt-in-your-mouth eggplant, all topped with a savory, spicy, slightly sweet and sour Yu Xiang sauce—absolutely delicious.
A large, crispy eggplant box drops heavily onto the table, instantly splattering bits of fried batter with a crackling sound. The air fills with the aroma of toasted goodness as the crust breaks open, revealing pale, tender eggplant and bright red shrimp cakes, while a wisp of steam escapes and rises gently upward.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
long eggplant, as needed
200 g (about 7 oz) fresh shrimp
For best results, use long eggplants as they are easier to slice and have a more tender texture. Fresh shrimp are preferred for the best flavor.
Seasonings for the Yu Xiang (Fish-Fragrant) Sauce
soy sauce 10 g
15 g (about 1 tablespoon) sugar
15 g rice vinegar
10 g (about 2 teaspoons) Shaoxing wine
30 g (about 2 tablespoons) water
Crispy Frying Batter
25 g (about 1/4 cup) cornstarch
25 g (about 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1 egg
Other Seasonings
30 g (about 1 oz) pickled chili peppers
15 g ginger and 15 g garlic
20 g scallions
1 g salt
Instructions
Instructions
Make the shrimp paste
Step 1: Peel and devein the fresh shrimp, wash them, then pat dry with a cloth. Press the shrimp flat with a knife, add salt, and use the back of the knife to mince them into a fine paste. Place in a bowl and stir continuously in one direction, add a little starch and mix well, then slap the mixture against the bowl a few times. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (Image 2).
Use the back of a knife to pound the shrimp into a paste for the best texture when making the shrimp filling.
*For the shrimp paste, you can add a bit more egg white and fatty ground pork to make the texture more moist and luscious. Also, be sure to slap and toss the paste firmly several times to give it that bouncy, springy texture.
Prep
② Peel the eggplant and cut into 0.5 cm (about 1/4 inch) thick slices (Image 3). Mince the scallions, ginger, and garlic, and finely chop the pickled chili peppers (Image 4). Combine all the Yu Xiang (Fish-Fragrant) sauce seasonings in a bowl and stir until well blended.
③ Mix the crispy batter ingredients together (Image 5), then gradually add water while stirring until it reaches a thick, smooth consistency that coats the back of a spoon (Image 6).
*The tempura batter should be mixed slightly thicker so it fully coats the eggplant pockets.
*The batter ratio is not fixed; if you want it crispier, add more starch. However, the ratio should not deviate too much from the original recipe.
④ Take two slices of eggplant, dust the surfaces with a little starch, place an appropriate amount of shrimp paste between them, and press firmly to seal (Figures 7 and 8).
*Lightly dust the eggplant slices with a little cornstarch to help the shrimp paste adhere more firmly.
*Alternatively, you can leave the eggplant slices attached at one end and stuff the shrimp paste inside.
Stir-fry the fish-fragrant sauce.
⑤ Put a small amount of oil in a wok, then dry-fry the finely minced pickled chili over medium-low heat for about 20 seconds. Add half the minced scallions and all the minced ginger and garlic, then stir-fry over medium heat until fragrant, about 10 seconds (Image 9). Turn the heat to high, pour in the prepared Yu Xiang sauce, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the remaining minced scallions, then remove from the wok (Image 10).
*When you first start stir-frying the pickled chilies, they will have a raw, sour smell; once that smell fades after a bit of cooking, you'll know they are ready.
*Adding the remaining half of the scallions at the end will make the Yu Xiang (fish-fragrant) sauce more aromatic; you can also lightly thicken it with a cornstarch slurry.
Deep-fried eggplant boxes
⑥Heat the wok, add plenty of oil and heat to 60-70% hot (about 350°F/175°C). Dip each assembled eggplant box into the prepared crispy batter, ensuring it is evenly coated, then fry in the wok over medium-high heat until golden brown on the surface (Figure 11). Finally, turn the heat to high and fry briefly before removing. Serve drizzled with or alongside the Yu Xiang (Fish-Fragrant) sauce.
*If you want a crispier exterior, after removing the fried eggplant boxes, reheat the oil until it reaches about 80% of its maximum temperature (around 350°F/175°C), then return the eggplant boxes to the oil for a second quick fry.
*Fried dishes are best enjoyed hot, but that doesn't mean eating them straight out of the oil—first, you'll burn your mouth, and second, they're not actually crispy right out of the fryer. The ideal timing is to let them rest for about 1 minute after removing from the oil; only after a brief contact with air will they become truly crispy.
Flexible application
Besides eggplant slices, you can also use lotus root slices for this dish—deep-fried lotus root boxes are also very popular and have a crisper, more tender texture.
Additionally, serving this crispy fried dish with a Sichuan-style yu-xiang (fish-fragrant) sauce is the classic approach, but if you prefer a northern Chinese twist, dipping it in Sichuan peppercorn salt is also absolutely delicious.