I love Japanese food, but don’t eat it often. The deal is, most Japanese food relies on Dashi, which is a stock made from Bonito fish. Japanese food is based on it, just like our food is based so much on chicken stock (but more so). Even miso soup, which sounds so safe for vegetarians, is usually made with Dashi as a base.
So you see, I can only make Japanese food at home.
There are a couple of dishes that I make over and over again. A couple of eggplant dishes, a tofu dish and a noodle dish. So tonight, shall we talk about one of the eggplant dishes?
It is Sunday, but I had to spend the day doing my business’ bookwork, and then 3 to 4 hours at a client’s site. So I dash home, thinking what can I eat, and hear the eggplant calling me. Yes! A salad with wonderful Japanese eggplant with miso.
You won’t believe that this is eggplant! It is SO delicious!
Ingredient Notes
Mirin
Mirin is a Japanese sweet cooking wine. It is made from steamed mochigome rice, komekoji (rice yeast), and shochu (Japanese liquor), which are mixed and and fermented. Mirin is clear and light gold in color and is usually sold in a bottle. It adds a nice lustre to ingredients, as well as a wonderful aroma.
As it is an essential ingredient in Japanese cooking, it can be found in any Asian shop or sometimes in the gourmet section of supermarkets.
The use of mirin is said to have begun over 400 years ago. Although it was used for drinking in the beginning, it has been used for only cooking since it was made to be thicker and sweeter.
Toasted Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Oil is a wonderful secret ingredient to many Asian dishes including Chinese and Japanese. Use only the best quality, and organic if you can. Good quality, cold pressed Sesame Oil is made from high quality seeds that are carefully toasted and cold pressed to produce smooth, deeply flavoured and aromatic oil without the burnt seed flavour often found in lower quality oils.
The oil has a wonderful nutty flavour, but don’t use too much of it - it can be overpowering. A drizzle here, a drop there, is enough.
Recipe Notes
This is so very easy. Tonight I threw it in the oven, whipped up a salad, wrote a blog and then sat down for dinner.
Serving Notes
It is a perfect entree (a starter, or first course - not meaning main course here, a la US).
Or a great lunch with a salad.
Or add some tofu in a wonderous Asian sauce and some green veges glazed with a little sesame oil and lightly sprinkled with sesame seeds for a more substantial meal.
Eat with chop sticks. The blocks of eggplant come away very easily from the skin.
Grilled/Baked Eggplant with Mirin and Miso Paste
Source : inspired by Japanese eggplant dishes that I had in the past at Japanese restaurants. From my old Food_Matters site.
Cuisine: Japanese
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
Serves: 1/2 eggplant per person for an entree, 1 eggplant per person for a lunch or main course
ingredients
0.5 - 1 eggplant per person
mirin
toasted sesame oil
dark miso paste
sesame seeds - white or a combination of black and white
method
With a sharp knife, slice the eggplants in two lengthwise, then score deeply right around the edge of the flesh and cross-score the cut face to make a criss-cross pattern. This not only looks good but also makes the eggplant easier to eat.
Brush the cut surfaces lightly with sesame oil. Drizzle mirin over the surface, allowing it to sink into the cuts.
Take a little miso paste and, with a knife, smear it across the surface quite thinly, or the taste will overwhelm the dish. Push it a little into the cuts.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top. You can make a nice pattern with the black and white sesame seeds.
Bake in a medium (200° Celcius) oven until quite soft, about 40 minutes or so. It is really important that it is cooked VERY WELL, otherwise it won’t be wonderful. You know how eggplant starts to collapse when it is cooked? Not quite there, but close.
Serve hot or at room temperature with pickled ginger and a green salad.
Other People Said:
Inbaelee has cooked this dish many times and it is now one of his (and his friend’s) favourites.
” I personally think that it’s probably the best tasting eggplant dish I’ve ever had, and some of my friends agreed too.”
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