Hakka Stuffed Eggplant

           Filling:
400     g  White fish fillet (14 oz); cut into chunks
    1/2 ts Salt
    1/2 tb Soy sauce
    1/2 ts Sugar
    1/2 ts Sweet paprika
    1/2 tb Corn starch
  2     tb Chinese cooking wine
    1/2 tb Sesame oil
  2     ts Ginger; finely minced
  1     tb Garlic; finely minced
    1/4 c  Scallion; diced
  3     tb Water
           Sauce:
  1     tb Soy sauce
  1     tb Oyster sauce
  1     ts Corn starch
           Black pepper to taste
  1     c  Water
           Others:
  2        Chinese long eggplants; up to 3
  3     tb Corn starch to coat the eggplants
  2     tb Vegetable oil to pan-fry; up to 3 tb

Hakka people love to make all kinds of stuffed food, such as stuffed
tofu, pepper, bitter melon, mushroom, eggplant. This has something to
do with their history. The ancestors of the Hakka people have
migrated southwards several times since the Qin dynasty because of
social unrest, upheaval, and invasions from the northern provinces.
When they moved to the south, they had to change their diet from
wheat to rice. Therefore, they couldn't make dumplings anymore so
they came up with the idea of stuffing the filling into all kinds of
ingredients. I guess you can consider this as a dumpling variant.
Stuffed eggplant was a regular dish on our dinner table. In this
recipe, I am using Dover sole fillet as the main ingredient but we
have tried shrimp, chicken, or pork. They all taste delicious.

Roughly cut the fish fillet into chunks and put it into the food
processor along with the rest of the filling ingredients. Use the on
and off mode to blend everything for 20-25 seconds. Don't grind the
meat too fine, otherwise, the filling will turn out too mussy. Remove
it from the food processor and set it aside.

Slice the eggplant at a 45-degree angle into 1 cm thick pieces. 
Place all the slices on the cutting board. Put a few tb of
corn starch into a sieve and lightly dust onto the eggplant cut
surface. Repeat this on the other side. Don't dust too much,
otherwise, the filling can not attach well. A thin layer of
corn starch will prevent the meat from falling off and it also
creates a starch layer on the outside of the eggplant which helps to
catch more flavors from the sauce.

Spread a small amount of filling, 1/2 ts will do, onto the eggplant
slice.  This will wet the corn starch lightly and help the meat to
fully make contact with the eggplant so it doesn't fall off while
cooking. Then put more filling, about 1-1/2 tb, on the top. Shape the
edge with a dining knife. This recipe is enough to stuff 3 long
skinny eggplants, of course, it depends on the size of your eggplant.

Before cooking, combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set
it aside.

Add vegetable oil into a frying pan. Place in the stuffed eggplant
with the meat side down and pan fry over medium heat until golden
brown. Flip it and fry the other side for a minute or 2.

Pour in the sauce. Be careful with the hot steam coming out. Move
around the eggplants so they can absorb more flavors. If your pan is
not big enough, you can fry the eggplant in batches. Just remember to
divide the sauce in half too.

Transfer the eggplant to a plate. Sprinkle some diced scallion as
garnish.  Serve with white rice.

Recipe FROM: https://soupeduprecipes.com/hakka-stuffed-eggplant/