Recipe: Fluffy Eggplant Onigiri That’ll Jazz Up Your Weekday Lunches

Photo: Courtesy of Hardie Grant Books / Erin Scott

The seared eggplant filling is inspired by unagi – eel – basted in a sweet sauce, and can be swapped for other veggies you might have lurking in your fridge.

“Vegetarianism is not a sacrifice but rather a joy and a way of cooking that keeps me learning,” writes US cookbook author Erin Alderson in her latest book, The Yearlong Pantry. This joyful approach to vegetarian cooking and eating sits at the heart of the cookbook, which is also a guide to cooking from your pantry – specifically, its grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Alongside recipes for bulgur breakfast bowls, kimchi and rice omelettes, and potato and lentil stew, Alderson includes instructions for cooking with a range of pantry goods – bulgur wheat, rice, lentils and barley – as well as their history and different modes of preparation. It’s both a recipe book and a guide for harnessing what’s in your store cupboard at any given moment, with seasonal variations on recipes allowing for year-round flexibility.

This recipe is a vegetarian take on onigiri filled with unagi, or eel, in a sweet sauce. “Instead of fish, the eggplant is seared and tossed in a sweet sauce,” writes Alderson, who says onigiri is an ace alternative to sandwiches for school lunches. “I’m constantly on the lookout for ideas and inspiration that don’t revolve around sandwiches, but can hold together when an eight-year-old slings their lunchbox around. Enter onigiri.

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“These Japanese rice balls are an equal-opportunity base that are easily vegetarian and can be packed with fresh or cooked vegetables, tofu, or tempeh.”

When Alderson is making onigiri for herself, she pairs it with marinated and grilled tofu, pickles and greens.

Erin Alderson’s eggplant onigiri

Makes 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

420g cooked short-grain white rice
1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
1 tbsp toasted black sesame seeds
Medium-heat chilli powder, for garnish (optional)
6 nori rectangles, 4x10cm each

EGGPLANT

1 or 2 small Japanese eggplant, peeled (available from specialty grocers)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp sake
1 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp vegetarian oyster sauce
2 tsp avocado oil

Method

To prepare the eggplant, bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Put the eggplant in the basket and steam for 8–12 minutes, until tender. Cut in half lengthwise and lightly mash, but keep the halves intact as much as possible.

Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and oyster sauce in a skillet over medium heat. Add the eggplant, mashed side down, and cook until the sauce thickens and only a bit is left, about 4–5 minutes. Add the avocado oil and cook for 2–3 minutes, until the eggplant is caramelised. Let the eggplant cool, then transfer to a cutting board and chop.

To make the onigiri, wet your hands and take about 120ml of the cooked rice. Pat the rice into a thick circle and add about 1 tbsp of the eggplant. Form the rice around the filling and shape into a triangle, keeping your hands damp as needed. Alternatively, and my preferred way, is to use an onigiri mould. Press 60ml of the rice in the bottom, add 1 tbsp of filling, top with another 60ml of rice, and press.

Combine the sesame seeds and chilli powder, if using, on a small plate. Roll the outer edges of the onigiri in the sesame mixture. If serving right away, wrap in the nori squares and serve. If serving later, wrap in waxed paper and keep in the refrigerator up to a day. Wrap in nori right before serving.

Notes

Get an onigiri mould: they are relatively inexpensive, make the process much easier and are a great way to get kids involved in making their own lunches.

Seasonal variations: for autumn and winter, I replace the eggplant with slices of kabocha or delicata squash. In spring, I swap in broccoli or hakurei turnips. Any of these vegetables will steam and sear well with the sauce.

This is an edited extract from The Yearlong Pantry: Bright, Bold Vegetarian Recipes to Transform Everyday Staples by Erin Alderson. Published by Hardie Grant Books, available in stores nationally from October 22, 2024. Photography by Erin Scott.

For more work lunch ideas, head to our midweek lunch recipe collection.

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