Japanese Fried Eggplants and Crispy Bonito Flakes with Dashi Sauce

Eggplants are cut into rings, flash fried, cooled in ice, doused with dashi sauce and garnished with crispy bonito flakes. Great side dish or vegetarian main dish.

I’m currently deciphering Japanese cuisine. I knew a little about it before I visited Japan but I think I understand it a little better now. What used to be intimidating is much less so now that I have a more intimate knowledge of a wider range of Japanese ingredients.

That is the key, really. If you want Japanese flavors in your home meals, you need to cook dishes with Japanese ingredients. While meat, chicken and many vegetables used in Japanese cooking can in found in many parts of the world, you will need the correct seasonings, garnish, condiments and, sometimes, even the right cooking technique.

The fried fish flakes that went on top of the dish was from a pack I bought at the basement of Takashimaya in Osaka. I thought at first that it was some other kind of fish but, at this point, I am 99% sure that that was a pack of bonito flakes that I bought.

That’s the pack on the bottom right corner of the photo above. From what I’ve gathered, bonito flakes are sold coarse or fine. The fine flakes that are more easily obtainable outside Japan can be substituted without problems. The recipe that inspired mine used fine bonito flakes.