Ingredients:
Marination liquid:
- Water- 100ml
- Soy sauce- 4 Tbsp
- Grated ginger- 1Tbsp
- Chopped garlic- 1Tbsp
- Eggplant- 1pc
- Aburaage- 4pcs
- Chia seeds(Bloom in water) In this recipe, I used this chia seed just to test if it can totally replace egg for the coating. It worked but you can also use some vegan milk instead
- Vegan cheese
- Shiso/Perilla leaves
- All purpose flour and bread crumbs for coating
Instructions:
- In a pot, put the water, soy sauce, grated ginger, garlic then mix.
- Meanwhile, cut the eggplant lengthwise
- Cut the aburaage from one side to create a pocket.
- Add the eggplant and aburaage inside the marination liquid and simmer for 2minutes. (Be careful not to over simmer or else the eggplant will become very soft. Make sure to push everything to cover with the liquid.
- Turn off the heat and cover. Set aside.
- When cooled down, squeeze out the liquid then put in a tray with paper towel
- Fill the Aburaage with the eggplant, cheese and perilla leaves
- Coat with flour and deep with chia seeds then breadcrumbs
- You can double coat for extra crispiness.
- Deep fry until golden brown
Side dish:
- Bellpepper- red and yellow- strips
- Cornstarch-1tsp
- Water- 1Tbsp
- Soy sauce- 1 tsp
- Sesame oil
- Chopped garlic- 1tsp
Instructions:
- In a small separate bowl, combine the cornstarch and water(slurry)
- In a pan, put some sesame oil
- Add the garlic and saute
- Add the bellpepper and saute until cooked
- Add soy sauce
- Turn off the heat then add the slurry and mix until becomes thick
- Then continue cooking for 1 minutes
For the rice balls, I mixed some left over sautéed mushrooms from the previous recipe with the cooked white rice then coated it with some yukari powder and nori powder 🙂
I hope you enjoy this bento!
Video tutorial: