Ever always the challenge for mums and dads the world over is getting their kids to eat more veg. One of the great things with Energy Nutrition is it’s not about huge volumes of nutrients a day to get required amounts which can often lead to a boggier and inefficient digestion.

With children, the digestive power is still developing up until the age of 7 years. This means that the Spleen and Stomach are in a naturally weakened state which can lead to that fussy-ness and sugar addition we’re so familiar with which can lead into ongoing digestion (and other!) issues later into adolescence and adulthood.

The two-pronged approach for keeping Spleen Qi vibrant is focussing on boosting Qi of the Spleen and Stomach by keeping meals simple and uncomplicated, and by eating foods that tonify the Spleen.

Enter Eggplant Katsu with Healthy Sauce.

This Eggplant Katsu recipe I stumbled upon recently over at SBS Food caught my attention for the simple fact it has carrot at the basis of a very tasty and harmonising sweet-sour-salty sauce.

And this is why I think this will be a perfect for kids. You’ve got carrots and fresh ginger for boosting digestive power, you’ve got a sauce which provides moistening factor which counters the drying nature of eggplant katsu and thus easier for digestion, and it has appeal with a variety of textures.

This recipe provides a good framework for a yummy dish that you can modify ingredients in the sauce to suit the palate of fussy eaters.

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Eggplant Katsu with Healthy Sauce

Health sauce:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 5cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 30ml of toasted sesame oil. Subst. with Olive oil if allergies
• 1.5 tsp good quality soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp curry powder. Subst. Oyster sauce for fussy eaters
• 2 tsp garam masala (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
• 350ml vegetable stock
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 3 tsp cornflower / tapioca flower
• 30ml water

Eggplant Katsu:

• 175g plain flour
• 1/5 tsp salt
• 250ml milk or plant-based milk
• 150g breadcrumbs, either panko or regular is ok
• 2 medium eggplants, Sliced into 1cm rounds
• non GMO sunflower seed oil for frying
• To serve: 4 spring onion greens finely sliced, toasted sesame seeds, cooked long grain rice

Directions
Start with making the Healthy Sauce:

1. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and warm the oil. Add the onion and saute for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the carrot, ginger and garlic if using, and sauté for a further 2 minutes until flavours developed
3. Add the soy sauce and curry powder (or oyster sauce), garam masala if using and stir for 2 minutes
4. Transfer to a blender along with the vegetable stock and blend until smooth. Pour back into the pan and return to a medium heat.
5. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine.
6. Reduce the heat to low.
7. Taste for seasoning adding a pinch or two of salt or more soy sauce and lemon if preferred.
8. To thicken the sauce, combine the cornflour / tapioca flower with water in a small dish and stir with a fork. Pour into the pan and stir as it thickens. Set aside while you make the Eggplant katsu.

To make the Eggplant Katsu:

1. Combine flower, salt, and milk in a bowl and whisk into a batter.
2. Pour breadcrumbs into a seperate bowl.
3. Tip the eggplant rounds into the batter and cover completely.
4. One by one coat the eggplant rounds with breadcrumps and set on a clean seperate plate ready for cooking.
5. Heat the oil in a deep fry pan or wok. Test for temperature by dropping in a few breadcrumbs. It will be ready when there is bubbling around the breadcrumbs.
6. Carefully add the eggplant slices and fry for 3- 4 minutes on each side until golden.
7. Transfer to a paper plate lined with paper towel to drain.

Serve by topping rice with slices of eggplant and lashings of sauce, blanched greens of choice, and sprinkled with spring onion greens and sesame seeds.

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Related Product: to make Eggplant Katsu with Healthy Sauce even more beneficial for digestive power, make your own vegetable stock using our Wellbeing Souper Charger.