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Plant-based mabo nasu (mapo eggplant) topped with chopped green onion and chili threads served in a white dish with blue striped edge with wooden spoon taking a scoop thumbnail square

Plant-Based Mabo Nasu (Japanese Mapo Eggplant)

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 portions

Ingredients 
 

Prep

  • 30 g soy meat dried soy mince, about 100 g once soaked
  • 2 cloves garlic minced, a little coarse is fine
  • 1 tbsp ginger root minced
  • 3 tbsp Japanese leek (naganegi) white part, minced
  • 2 tbsp cashew nuts optional, coarsely crushed, some chunks left
  • 1 tbsp potato starch (katakuriko) or cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp water

Sear the Eggplant

  • 300 g eggplants ideally Japanese, Chinese, or Italian eggplant
  • 3 tbsp cooking oil 2 tbsp for the eggplant, 1 tbsp for the aromatics

Build the Mabo

Finish and Serve

Instructions 

Prep

  • Pour boiling water over 30 g soy meat and soak it for the time on the package. (Ready-to-use mince needs no soaking, rinsing or squeezing.) While it soaks, separately mince 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp ginger root and 3 tbsp Japanese leek (naganegi), white part only.
    Mis en place for plant-based mabo nasu: tofu mince in a bowl, crushed cashew nuts in a mini mortar, finely chopped garlic, ginger and leek on a steel plate, and roughly cut Japanese eggplant in a steel mixing bowl.
  • Roughly crush 2 tbsp cashew nuts, keeping them in small chunks. Stir 1 tbsp potato starch (katakuriko) into 2 tbsp water in a small bowl.
    Drain the mince in a strainer and give it a quick rinse under the tap. Squeeze it hard with both hands until no more water drips out.
    crushed cashew nuts in a small mortar

Sear the Eggplant

  • Trim the stem ends off 300 g eggplants and halve them lengthwise. Score the skin side of each chunk with a shallow crosshatch. Cut them on the diagonal into 4 to 5 cm (about 1.5 to 2 inch) chunks.
    eggplant with scored skin on a wooden chopping board
  • Right after cutting, heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Sear the eggplant for 3 minutes. Then cover for 1 minute. When the skin is glossy deep purple and the cloudy oil clears, lift it onto a rack.
    roughly cut Japanese eggplant in a large wok on the stove top

Build the Mabo

  • Add the remaining 1 tbsp cooking oil to the same pan and set it over medium-low heat. Stir-fry the garlic, ginger and leek until fragrant, before they brown.
    finely diced leek, garlic and ginger frying in a wok on the stove top
  • Turn the heat to low. Add 1 tbsp chili bean sauce (toban djan) and ½ tsp sugar and work them into the oil for 30 to 60 seconds. When the oil is red and the sharp smell has turned sweet and roasted, add 2 tsp yellow miso paste (awase) and stir just until it blends in.
    blooming doubanjiang in a hot wok on the stove top
  • Raise the heat to medium-high or high and spread the mince across the pan. Sear it untouched for 1 to 2 minutes, until the underside browns. Break it up and cook 1 minute more, until it is colored all over.
    soy meat (mince style) mixed with aromatics and doubanjiang in a wok on the stove top
  • Add 1 tbsp sake and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the pan. Drizzle 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) down the side of the pan, toss briefly and taste.
    spicy seasoned soy mince in a wok on the stove top to make plant-based mabo nasu
  • Pour in 300 ml vegetable bouillon and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat for a moment. Stir the slurry again and pour it in a little at a time, stirring as you go.
    stock added to wok to make broth for plant-based mabo nasu

Finish and Serve

  • Return the eggplant to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Stir until the sauce boils again, then simmer for about 1 minute. When the sauce has thickened evenly and looks translucent, turn off the heat and taste to settle the seasoning.
    pan fried eggplant added back into plant-based mabo nasu sauce in wok on the stove top
  • Off the heat, drizzle in 1 tsp unseasoned rice vinegar (komezu) and 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, stir once and add 1 pinch ground black pepper. Scatter on the cashews and 1 tbsp finely chopped green onions, plus chili threads if you like. Enjoy with plain rice!
    plant-based mabo nasu seasoned with ground black pepper in a wok on the stove top

Notes

Ready-to-use soy mince: Use about 100 g of shelf-stable, chilled or frozen mince, the same as 30 g of dried mince once soaked. Thaw frozen mince before it goes in the pan.
Sear the eggplant as soon as it is cut: Cut eggplant darkens once the air reaches it, and the purple fades from the skin if the pieces sit in water for long.
Keep the oil hot for the eggplant: The flesh is spongy with tiny air pockets. Put it into lukewarm oil, or add more oil halfway through, and it fills with oil and turns heavy and greasy before it has a chance to brown.
The browning is the flavor: Dried soy mince tastes of almost nothing on its own. The toasty crust it picks up when you spread it out and leave it alone takes over the job meat would do in the filling.
Weigh the eggplant: A reader reported making this with one massive eggplant from the garden and getting far more food and far less sauce. If yours is large, cut off only the weight the card lists.