Light, crispy Korean fried eggplant served with a spicy-sweet Korean-Chinese sauce. Learn tips for perfect texture, starch coating, and seasonal eggplant.
Our family didn’t grow up eating eggplant so it was a newer vegetable for me as an adult. I’ve really grown to love it, especially in Italian and Asian dishes. Foods like eggplant rice by Baek Jong Won, garlic stir-fried eggplant, eggplant jeon and fried eggplant are all delicious. Eggplant can take on a different texture depending on how it’s cooked.
This is a deep-fried eggplant that’s coated only lightly in potato starch so the outer crisp is very light and not overpowering. There’s a great texture contrast between the soft eggplant and the crunchy fried edges. This is another very popular recipe by the Korean actor, Ryu Soo Young on the popular TV show, “Pyun-staurant”. He pairs the eggplant with a Korean-Chinese style sweet and spicy sauce. There’s always the Korean debate about whether you pour the sauce on top or serve it on the side and dip it! For thicker batters, I prefer to pour it but this batter is very light so I liked to dip the eggplant in the sauce. It’s your choice though!
Few tips from Ryu Soo Young: :
- Summer eggplants – the outer skin is slightly thicker because the sun is so strong and is great for stir-frying. The eggplant won’t fall apart as easily. Fall eggplants are sweeter and softer and great for frying! You can still make all the styles year-round but good to know!
- Use only the starch flour, no water. If you mix with the water, gluten will form which will make the fried batter less crispy. Don’t overmix – it doesn’t need to be nice and smooth. The different textures add a crunch once fried. I like to toss the eggplant and starch in a plastic bag but Ryu Soo Young just mixes it in the bowl.
Enjoy some of the eggplant without any sauce like a light tempera and the others with the delicious sauce. Goes really well with a beer after a long day of work! Enjoy!
Images from the show! 
Fried eggplant with spicy-sweet sauce (Korean-Chinese style) by Ryu Soo Young
Ingredients
- 2 Japanese eggplant 1.5 Italian eggplant
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt original recipe uses ½ Tbsp salt which I found to be too much
- ¼ cup potato starch
Fried batter
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 Tbsp potato starch
Spicy-sweet sauce
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 inch length ginger sliced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 green onion stalk scallion, chopped
- 4 spicy korean peppers chopped
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 6 Tbsp Korean corn syrup mulyeot
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp vinegar ; white apple cider vinegar etc
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- Sprinkle of salt
- ⅔ Tbsp 2 tsp corn starch
- 1 ⅓ Tbsp water
Instructions
- Slice the eggplant in diagonal cuts to make chunks around ½ to 1 inch pieces.
- *Optional step: Place eggplant into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. This brings out the moisture from the eggplant. Set aside for about 10 minutes until the eggplant releases the excess moisture. Pat dry. **I found skipping this step did not make a big difference.
- Dump the potato starch on to the eggplant and lightly toss to mix. **I like to toss the eggplant and starch in a plastic bag but Ryu Soo Young just mixes it in the bowl. The potato starch will stick to the eggplant either way
- Bring a pot of oil for frying to 350 degrees. Once the pot is heated, add in the eggplant pieces and fry for about 3-4 minutes until golden. Set aside on a wire rack. Repeat until all eggplant pieces are fried. **If you don't have a food thermometer, briefly place a wooden chopstick or spoon in the oil and when you see small bubbles forming around it steadily, it's ready
- In a small bowl, add ⅓ cup water + 1 Tbsp potato starch. Mix well without clumps. Add spoonfuls of this starchy water to the frying oil which will fry bubbles of snowball like batter for extra crunchy fried batter pieces.
Spicy-sweet sauce
- Heat a medium-sized frying pan with 2 Tbsp oil, when heated, add in the ginger slices. Stir-fry well until golden brown. Remove ginger and set aside so the ginger doesn’t burn.
- Now add the minced garlic into the frying pan. Stir-fry a minute and add in the scallion and peppers. Continue to stir fry until the scallions become transparent and the garlic golden brown. Make sure there is still enough oil so the garlic doesn't burn. Lower the heat low.
- Add 1 Tbsp sugar, 6 Tbsp mulyeon, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp vinegar, a pinch of salt and 2 Tbsp ketchup. Mix well.
- In a small bowl mix the cornstarch and water without clumps. Add the cornstarch mix into the frying pan sauce mix. Stir well. This will thicken the sauce.
- Serve as you wish. Pour the sauce over the eggplant or serve separately as a dipping sauce.
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