When it is too hot and you don’t want to eat anything, this dish might still work on your appetite. Vinegary flavour always helped me to eat in the stinking hot summer in Japan. Eggplant is a wonder vegetable and it can be so brilliant in many different flavours. This dish recalls the hot summer days in my childhood.


Makes

4 Servings

Ingredients

1-2 Eggplants *about 300g
1 Sweet Green Chilli *cut into a size that is easy to eat
1 tablespoon Canola Oil OR Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Ponzu *OR 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce & 2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 small piece Ginger *grated
1 tablespoon Mirin
1 teaspoon Sugar
400g Chicken Tenderloins / Breast Fillets
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons Potato Starch / Corn Starch Flour
Oil for cooking
1 Spring Onion *finely chopped

Method
  1. Place Ponzu (Soy Sauce & Vinegar), Mirin and Ginger (and Sugar if you like) in a bowl and mix well to make the sauce.
  2. Cut off the green bit of Eggplants and cut in half or quarter lengthways, then make many shallow cuts on the skin, scoring it. Then cut into smaller pieces.
  3. Heat Oil in a frying pan over medium heat, cook Eggplants on the skin side down for a few minutes. Then cook other sides as well until they are slightly coloured.
  4. Add Green Sweet Chilli, cover with the lid and cook until all eggplant pieces are soft. Adding 1-2 tablespoons Water would help steam-cook the vegetables.
  5. Transfer the cooked vegetables into a deep dish or bowl, pour over the ponzu sauce and set aside.
  6. Cut Chicken Tenderloins or Breast Fillets into 3 to 4cm size, lightly season with Salt & Pepper, then coat with Potato Starch Flour. This layer of flour will turn to jelly-like when combined with sauce.
  7. Heat Oil in a frying pan and cook Chicken. Tenderloins won’t take long to cook. You don’t need to brown the Chicken.
  8. Place marinated vegetables in a serving bowl, place chicken on top, then pour over the marinade. Sprinkle chopped Spring Onion over and serve.