This is a vegetarian recipe for Japanese mabo nasu which is a cross between Yú Xiāng (鱼香茄子), or fish fry eggplant, and mapo tofu. The eggplant is tossed in a gooey savory, earthy, and nutty sauce, perfect for pouring over rice. It’s delicious!
Mabo nasu is a popular Japanese dish consisting of sliced eggplant and ground pork cooked in a savory and pungent gooey sauce. It is the same as mabo tofu except that eggplant, which is "nasu" in Japanese, is used instead of tofu.
Add the TVP in a bowl and pour 1/4 cup of hot water over it. Give it a quick stir and leave for about 10 minutes, until it's rehydrated.
Slice the eggplant and soak it in a bowl of water for 15 minutes.
Cook the eggplant until all the pieces are coated evenly, then transfer them to the oven for 4 minutes.
Drizzle one more tablespoon of oil over the eggplant pieces and toss to coat evenly.
Transfer the eggplant to a bowl or a plate but do not turn the heat off.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the same skillet and stir in the TVP and chopped bamboo.
Cook the tobanjan, shaoxing wine, sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and garlic
Stir in the chicken stock and chopped onion, and return the eggplant to the deep skillet. Bring to a boil.
Thicken sauce by adding the potato starch and water mixture.