Crispy Eggplant Katsu Recipe – A Vegan Twist on a Classic

This Crispy Eggplant Katsu Recipe or Eggplant Katsudon Recipe is a plant based version of the usual chicken or pork katsu. Needing only less than 15 minutes. Check out this perfect vegan alternative to the meaty Classic Japanese pork cutlet. All you need are eggplants, all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, pepper, cold water, breadcrumbs, and some oil for frying. Serve with a side of sauce as a snack, over a salad, rice, or over curry. This delicious plant based dish will surely impress anyone who gives it a try.

Crispy Eggplant Katsu Recipe :

Ingredients :

• 2 pieces eggplants
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Salt to taste
•  Pepper to taste
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• Oil for deep frying

Steps :

1. Prepare the eggplants by slicing these slightly thickly. Set aside. 

2. Then prepare a bowl, mixing all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, pepper, and cold water together. Mix until smooth.

3. Dip the eggplants into the flour mixture. Then coat with breadcrumbs, then set aside. Repeat until all the eggplants have been coated.

4. Fry in a pot with oil; at medium heat until golden brown in color. Cook in batches and place these over a strainer or kitchen towel. Serve with a side of ketchup.

What is Katsu ?

“Katsu” or “Katsuretsu” is an American influenced Japanese dish that refers to “fried cutlets” whether it’s a type of meat, vegetable, or seafood. These are usually prepared by creating a batter made of flour and egg, dipping the meat or vegetable of choice into the flour mixture before being coated with breadcrumbs. In some recipes you’ll notice that the flour mixture is seasoned with garlic or onion powder, spices like cayenne, cumin, or paprika, and of course, salt and pepper. Some also add potato starch or cornstarch to really make sure the batter turns crisp. The breadcrumbs used are ‘Panko’ breadcrumbs which are made of white bread processed or blended into flakes then dried, this gives the cutlet its extra crisp texture since this type of breadcrumbs absorbs less oil. The battered and coated ‘meat’ is then fried until it looks golden. Served often with a side of shredded cabbage and some vegetables, drizzled with tonkatsu sauce or mayo on the side.

The “Best crispy Eggplant Katsu recipe”

To make this crispy eggplant recipe, all you need to do is prepare the eggplants, clean them under running water. Pat these dry before slicing them slightly thickly. You don’t want these to be too thin or the batter and breadcrumbs will not cling to the vegetable properly and these might fry too fast. You also don’t want these to be too thick as these will take a longer time to cook the vegetable and the batter will fry for too long and turn too dark. Once everything is sliced, set these aside.

To make the batter, mix together all purpose flour, cornstarch to really help crisp it up, baking powder to puff the batter up, salt, pepper, and cold water to bind everything together. Once it looks smooth, dip the eggplant slices into the batter, then toss it in another bowl filled with breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the eggplants are coated well with the breadcrumbs. Fill a pan or pot halfway or ⅓ of the way with oil. Heat this up until slightly bubbling before placing the eggplants in. Fry until these look golden. You want to cook these in batches to avoid the katsu from sticking to each other. Take these out and place them on a strainer or kitchen towel to absorbs any excess oil and keep the eggplant katsu fresh and crisp. Serve with a side of ketchup, sriracha or any sort of sauce like the samples below.

Questions

• Other sauces to try : 

Aside from enjoying this crisp delicious snack alone, you can elevate it by dipping it in different sauces, like tonkatsu sauce, ponzu sauce, sriracha, wasabi mayo, teriyaki sauce, and even gochujang garlic mayo. You can also turn this into a full meal by plating the eggplants over a bed of rice, then dousing it with curry sauce or homemade curry to make “Eggplant Katsu Curry”.

• How to cook Eggplant Katsu using an air fryer
  • After dipping these in the batter, place these in the air fryer basket lined with parchment. Try to arrange them in just one layer.
  •  Spray or brush these with a good amount of oil. Air fry at 200°C or 390°F for 35 – 40 minutes flipping halfway. 
  • Keep these in for longer until it turns golden brown.

• Can you use other vegetables ?

If you want to try to use this batter and method with other vegetables you can do so. Try it with carrots, string beans, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion rings, zucchini, okra, and even using tofu.

Try our other Yummy Eggplant Recipes :

• Crispy Eggplant Roll
• Eggplant Burger Steak with Mushrooms  
• Sweet and Spicy Eggplant
• Eggplant Stir-fry with Ground Pork
• Eggplant Fries

Crispy Eggplant Katsu Resipi ( Tagalog ) :

Mga Sangkap :

• 2 pirasong talong
• ½ tasa harina
• ½ tasa cornstarch
• 1 kutsaritang baking powder
• Asin panlasa
• Paminta panlasa
• 1 tasa malamig na tubig
• 1 tasa breadcrumbs
• Mantika pang prito

Paano Lutuin :

1. Para handain ang mga talong, hiwain ang mga ito. Itabi.
2. Sa mangkok, haluin ang harina, cornstarch, baking powder, asin, paminta, at tubig. Haluin ng mabuti.
3. Isawsaw ang mga talong sa ginawang mixture. Takpan ang mga ito ng breadcrumbs, at itabi. Ulitin hanggang matakpan ang lahat ng mga talong.
4. Iprito ang mga ito sa kawali na may mantika at nasa katamtamang init. Pag nag kayumanggi na ang mga ito ilipat sa strainer or sa plato na may kitchen towel. Ihanda na may tabing ketchup.

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