• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact
cook with dana

Cook With Dana

Chinese Stuffed Eggplant (Hakka)

March 18, 2022

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

chinese stuffed eggplant

We’re making one of the most famous hakka foods – Chinese stuffed eggplant. The filling is bouncy from the shrimp paste and its crispy when shallow fried! The soft eggplant goes so well with the dried shrimp and cilantro. This recipe is very similar to the stuffed jalapenos but with a little more complexity. It is the dried shrimp that gives the filling a nice umami flavor!

You know that I love eating these stuffed eggplants with hot white rice. Don’t miss out on this delicious and traditional chinese eggplant recipe ◡̈

chinese stuffed eggplant

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR STUFFED EGGPLANT:

  • Chinese eggplants
  • corn starch
  • avocado oil (to fry)
  • garlic cloves

Filling:

  • ground pork
  • large shrimp
  • dried shrimp
  • soy sauce
  • salt
  • chicken bouillon
  • olive oil
  • corn starch
  • white pepper
  • green onions
  • cilantro
  • egg

STEPS TO MAKE THE STUFFED EGGPLANT:

  1. Cut off the stems of Chinese eggplant. Peel half of the skin of the eggplant (in stripes). Slice diagonally in 1 inch pieces.
  2. (optional) Soak the dried shrimp for 1-15 minutes until softened. The dried shrimp is usually found in asian grocery stores next to the chinese sausage. Roughly mince the dried shrimp.
  3. Mince the shrimp until it forms a paste.
  4. Chop green onions and cilantro and set aside.
  5. To make the filling, mix ground pork, soy sauce, salt, chicken bouillon, olive oil, and corn starch, white pepper, and egg. Mix in one direction for 50+ times until the filling is gelatinous and sticks together.
  6. Then mix in shrimp paste, chopped dried shrimp, green onions and cilantro.
  7. Add corn starch on a plate. Take one piece of eggplant and press one side of the eggplant with cornstarch. This helps the eggplant stick to the filling when cooking and eating. If you skip this step, the filling and the eggplant might fall apart during cooking.
  8. Smear 1 tbs of filling on the cornstarch side of the eggplant.
  9. Heat pan to medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add 2-3 tbs oil. Add stuffed eggplant meat side down and gently press. Be careful, oil may splatter. Note: You may need to fry the stuffed eggplant in a few batches. Overcrowding them will make them not as crispy.
  10. Fry eggplant for 4 minutes with a cover.
  11. Then, turn down heat to low-medium. Flip the eggplant over (feel free to add a few tbs of oil to ensure the eggplant doesn’t stick!) and cook the eggplant for 3-4 minutes until it softens.
  12. Add some chopped garlic to the oil. Fry for one more minute. Enjoy with some hot rice!


chinese stuffed eggplant
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
No ratings yet

Chinese Stuffed Eggplant

Chinese eggplant stuffed with pork and shrimp filling.
Prep Time45 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Course: Main Course
Keyword: eggplant, hakka, stuffed eggplant
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 6-8 Chinese eggplants half peeled and cut in 1 inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • ¼ cup oil (to fry)
  • 5-8 garlic cloves roughly chopped

filling

  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 10-14 large shrimp de-veined and peeled, mince in shrimp paste
  • 10-14 dried shrimp minced (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
  • 2 green onions sliced
  • 5-7 sprigs cilantro minced
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  • Cut off the stems of Chinese eggplant. Peel half of the skin of the eggplant (in stripes). Slice diagonally in 1 inch pieces.
  • (Optional) Soak the dried shrimp for 1-15 minutes until softened. The dried shrimp is usually found in asian grocery stores next to the Chinese sausage. Roughly mince the dried shrimp.
  • Mince the shrimp until it forms a paste.
  • Chop green onions and cilantro and set aside.
  • To make the filling, mix ground pork, soy sauce, salt, chicken bouillon, olive oil, and corn starch, white pepper, and egg. Mix in one direction for 50+ times until the filling is gelatinous and sticks together.
  • Then mix in shrimp paste, chopped dried shrimp, green onions and cilantro.
  • Add corn starch on a plate. Take one piece of eggplant and press one side of the eggplant with cornstarch. This helps the eggplant stick to the filling when cooking and eating. If you skip this step, the filling and the eggplant might fall apart during cooking.
  • Smear 1 tbs of filling on the cornstarch side of the eggplant.
  • Heat pan to medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add 2-3 tbs oil. Add stuffed eggplant meat side down and gently press. Be careful, oil may splatter. Note: You may need to fry the stuffed eggplant in a few batches. Overcrowding them will make them not as crispy.
  • Fry eggplant for 4 minutes with a cover.
  • Then, turn down heat to low-medium. Flip the eggplant over (feel free to add a few tbs of oil to ensure the eggplant doesn’t stick!) and cook the eggplant for 3-4 minutes until it softens.
  • Add some chopped garlic to the oil. Fry for one more minute. Enjoy with some hot rice!

Video

@cookwithdana

Reply to @…uwq stuffed eggplant is one of my favorite Hakka recipes 😊 #chinesefood

♬ Lovesick Girls – Shin Giwon Piano

Did you make this recipe? 💖

Please give it a 5-star rating or leave a comment below to share your experience! Tag @cookwithdanaa on instagram to show me your beautiful creations😊


Looking for more Hakka recipes? Try these out below!

  • One of my favorite stuffed recipes is this Stuffed Jalapeno from my grandma! Its spicy & flavorful!
  • If you’re looking for something soft and silky, you need to try this shrimp stuffed tofu recipe!

Cook With Dana is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you purchase something through my amazon affiliate links, I earn a small commission that helps me produce more cooking content at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cook With Dana!

in Appetizer, Main Dishes, Recipes # dim sum, eggplant, hakka

Reader Interactions

you may also like
Easy Ox Bone Soup (Seolleongtang)
Turnip Cake (Loh Bak Go)
Braised Minced Pork Over Rice 肉燥饭
Easy Chinese Hot Pot At Home

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Me

Hi there, I'm Dana and I create Asian recipes that are yummy and easy for everyone to make! I hope my food reminds you of a little taste of home.

Sign up & never miss a recipe from cook with dana!

Popular Recipes

Featured

Easy Ox Bone Soup (Seolleongtang)

Turnip Cake (Loh Bak Go)

Latest ‘Grams

My childhood comfort food! 👧🏻 I always look My childhood comfort food! 👧🏻 I always look forward to when my mom would make cheung fun or Hong Kong rice noodles for me as a kid on her way to work on saturday and sunday mornings. Hong Kong rice noodles are known as Cheung fun (腸粉) in Cantonese. Cheung Fun is a popular street snack in Hong Kong and is often served as a dim sum item. These rice noodles are super soft & jiggly after steaming. The rice noodles consists of many layers of noodles so it’s perfect for adding sauces on top. I recommend sauces like XO sauce (dried scallop and shrimp chili oil), hoisin sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce, and oyster sauce for the ultimate food bite! 

google ‘rice noodle dana’ for full recipe or click link in bioooo! 💖 have a lovely weekend my dumplings!
—
#noodles #hongkong #streetfood #easymeals #chinesefood #cantonese #hongkongstreetfood
Currently dreaming of this hong kong french toast Currently dreaming of this hong kong french toast and milk tea combo for brekkies 💭My secret ingredient for my hong kong french toast is dairy milk! I dip shokupan (Japanese white bread or asian style white bread) in dairy milk which really helps soften the bread for extra fluffiness and then dip in egg batter and panko bread crumbs (non-traditional method but SO GOOD!) for that extra crispy bite 😋#gonnaneedmilk

Not only is milk a great ingredient for cooking, milk contains 4 B vitamins, which helps our bodies convert food into energy. So essentially the milk in milk tea is a quick and easy way to kickstart your busy day with energy. If you’re lactose intolerant, don’t worry, lactose-free milk  has all the same nutritional benefits as traditional milk! So… when are you trying this recipe?

Learn more about the benefits of dairy milk @gonnaneedmilk or gonnaneedmilk.com

Full Recipe continued in the comments below! 👇🏼

—
 #ad #asianfood #chinesefood #delicious #breakfast #brunch #cantonese
My new favorite soup right now 😍Here’s a supe My new favorite soup right now 😍Here’s a super easy and not traditional Korean ox bone soup aka Seolleongtang 설렁탕 🥰 Super hot bone broth is topped with beautifully marbled beef, Chinese chives, green onions, and some salt and pepper to taste. Add some Korean kimchi radish and it’s chef’s kiss!

See blog post for more detail on the ingredients (like which bone broth I bought) and full recipe ◡̈ You gotta use somen noodles for this recipe. It only takes 3 minutes to make. Tip: boil noodles at the same time as the broth to make cooking fast🍜
——
#easyrecipes #beef #koreanfood #soup #asianfood #kimchi
Wishing you luck, health and prosperity with this Wishing you luck, health and prosperity with this turnip cake recipe aka loh bok go in cantonese. Gung Hey Fat Choy ([恭喜发财] my dumplings! PS. I don’t recommend saying lai see dou loi unless you’re very close to that relative or you are a young child lol

Full recipe is linked in bio or find on my bloggg 🧧🐰

I finally finished testing out this recipe (it’s beeen a few months haha)! I was struggling with the texture for a little while. Now, the recipe is good to go ◡̈  The flavor is very savory from the chinese sausage and cured pork belly (made from my dad!) and also sweet from the radish. The texture is firm but not too doughy because I loaded this up with lots and lots of radish. You will never find a restaurant that has as much radish as this homemade recipe. Lastly, I pan fried the turnip cake to give it a nice crisp at the end. 

Don’t forget Chinese New Year is celebrated on the eve (21st of January!) so have a nice dinner with your family on Saturday. Then my mom told me to not clean or do any labor on actual Chinese New Years Day (22nd of January). Wishing all you dumplings good health and wealth in the upcoming year.
——
#dimsum #chinesefood #chinesenewyear #lunarnewyear #deliciousfood #tastyfood
This egg drop soup is inspired by my parent’s Ch This egg drop soup is inspired by my parent’s Chinese restaurant 😋Silken tofu is cooked in a sweet chicken broth and cornstarch slurry is added to thicken the soup as well as make the smooth & thick texture. 

Some Cantonese restaurants serve this with real crab meat (highly recommend if you have this!) and the color is on the whiter end (hence why we’re using egg whites!). However, if you want to use the whole egg, feel free to use it! The egg yolk makes the soup more yellow and creamy. 

You can google ‘cook with dana egg drop soup’ for full recipe or find it in my link in bio! Hope you have a wonderful week my dumplings and can’t wait to show you my Chinese New Year recipes! 
🧧🐰

—
#soup #eggs #chinesefood #easyrecipes #tasty #tofu #asianrecipes
Fridge clean out time! 🙃 Crab jeon (omelette) o Fridge clean out time! 🙃 Crab jeon (omelette) or korean seafood pancake is a great recipe to use all your leftover ingredients in the fridge. For groceries, I always use the ‘first in, first out’ method meaning the older groceries need to be used before eating the new stuff. I’m chopping up leftover vegetables and onions in small pieces and mixing them together with imitation crab. The pancake may taste different depending on what ingredients you have but once you mix it with eggs and some flour (especially korean pancake mix!), it will taste scrumptious in it’s own unique way. 

The next time you stock up, make sure to keep some type of seafood in the freezer at all times. For me, I tend to buy extra imitation crab and shrimp. Then you will always have good staples to make with your leftover ingredients. 

Check link in bio for recipe or google ‘crab jeon dana’ to find full recipe and directions ◡̈ Stay dry california dumplings, there’s lots of rain here haha.

—
#koreanfood #easyrecipes #omelette #seafood #deliciousfood
2021 © Cook With Dana
made by soulmuse