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Eggplant halves stuffed with a mixture of garlic chips, shiitake and coriander with sesame truffle dressing

Eggplant Boats with Shiitakes, Garlic Chips and Sesame Truffle Dressing

A bold and flavourful plant-based dish of fried eggplant halves with shiitake mushrooms, crispy garlic chips, fresh coriander and a rich sesame truffle dressing.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • 1 large pan
  • 1 small pan

Ingredients
  

For the eggplant boats:

  • 2 chubby eggplants
  • 12 shiitake mushrooms caps only (see notes)
  • 6 garlic cloves thinly sliced across
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
  • 1 tsp white sesame seeds
  • 1 cup frying oil divided

For the sesame truffle dressing:

  • 1 tbsp truffle oil see notes
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp mandarin juice
  • 1/2 tsp brown sugar or honey
  • 1/3 tsp wasabi
  • 1/4 tsp rock salt

Instructions
 

  • Prepare the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust to perfection.
  • Thoroughly wash the shiitake caps and squeeze them hard to let the excess water out.
  • In a small pan, heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil to medium high and fry the shiitake caps for 2-3 minutes until they just turn golden. Transfer onto a paper towel.
  • Add 1/2 cups of oil to the same pan. Deep fry garlic slices for about 20-30 seconds, until they start turning deep golden. Immediately take them out with a blotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel.
  • Cut the eggplant into halves lengthwise. Make a few criss-cross cuts on the open side and season with a little salt.
  • Heat the remaining oil in a large pan to medium high.
  • Fry the eggplant halves skin side down for 4-5 minutes, then flip, lower the heat, put a lid on and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the flesh softens.
  • Transfer the eggplants to a serving plate cut size up.
  • Drizzle over 1/2 of the dressing and leave for a few minutes for the flavours to impart.
  • In the meantime, combine shiitake caps, coriander leaves and sesame seeds and toss with the remaining dressing.
  • Fluff the eggplant flesh with a fork and scoop the mushroom & coriander mixture over.
  • Scatter over garlic chips and serve immediately.

Notes

  • If you own an air fryer, you can also make shiitake chips. You will need about 20 large caps. Wash them and squeeze hard to let the excess water out, then thinly slice across. Place into the air fryer and dehydrate for 1.5-2 hours. For this dish, you will need about two table spoons of dried mushrooms: deep fry them in oil for 5-10 seconds only, then scatter over the eggplant boats together with garlic chips. The rest can be stored in an airtight container.