Was just talking about eggplant recipes with a friend and thought I’d post them here as well.
If sodium is a consideration they do sell lower sodium lite soy sauce and miso paste.
Easy eggplant and cucumber pickles my aunt taught me
(good as a side veggie with a rice dish)
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Slice eggplant into 4-5mm disks. Salt eggplant. Mix marinade in a baggie or container: 3 TBSP soy sauce, 3 TBSP vinegar (preferably rice wine vinegar), a little sugar. Marinate eggplant in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, shaking occasionally.
If desired, serve slices with a little hot chinese mustard.
Cucumber pickles: Long thin japanese cukes work best but I’ve used regular or english cucumbers as well
Mostly peel cucumber, cut into 3″ lengths, then lengthwise into quarters. Mix marinade as above, but add a couple of shakes of sesame oil.
Marinate in refrigerator 2-3 hours, shaking occasionally.
Nasu Dengaku (Japanese Eggplants Broiled /glazed with Miso)
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recipe adapted by momofuku for 2 from fatfreevegan.com
Japanese eggplants are broiled (or grilled, if you have the time), then spread with a sweetened miso mixture, and then broiled again for a few seconds so the mixture caramelizes a bit. Sweet and salty.
“1 tablespoons mirin (sweetened cooking liquid containing sake)
1 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons shiro miso (white miso paste)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 Japanese eggplants, cut in half lengthwise*
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
sliced green onions, for garnishPlace the mirin and sake in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 2 minutes to allow some of the alcohol to cook off. Then add the miso and stir until smooth. Stir in the sugar, reduce the heat to very low, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, while you broil the eggplants:
Brush the cut sides of the eggplants with the sesame oil. Put the eggplants cut-side down on a baking sheet and place under the broiler of your oven for about 3 minutes, checking often to make sure that they do not burn. Turn them over, and cook for another 3 minutes or until the tops are a light to medium brown. Do not burn! (If your eggplant still isn’t tender all the way through, turn the broil function to bake at 375˚ for a few more minutes; then proceed with the recipe.)
When the eggplants are tender, top each one with the miso sauce and put them back under the broiler until the sauce bubbles up–this should take less than a minute, so watch them closely. Enjoy hot, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and green onions.
* I sometimes use a regular eggplant, but the thinness of Japanese eggplants work better because they roast faster. Also, if you score the eggplants, they’ll cook faster and the sauce will flavour even more of the eggplant.”
homestyle eggplants and peppers in miso
from Stone Soup Japanese homestyle cooking
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5 Japanese eggplants about 6″ long
2 green peppers (shishito)
1 TBSP vegetable oil (sesame oil brings out fragrance of the miso)
1 TBSP miso paste (white is less intense flavored than red)
2 TBSP sake
2 TBSP sugar
Cut off eggplant caps and both ends of green peppers.
Open peppers up lengthwise, remove seeds. Cut eggplants into half-moons, julienne green peppers.
Soak eggplants in water 5 min to mellow the flavor, drain.
Heat oil in frying pan, saute eggplants until tender.
Add green peppers and keep sauteing 1 more minute.
Combine and mix sake, sugar and miso. add them to peppers and eggplant, heat through.
And the recipe I make most frequently, Steamed eggplant with garlic sauce (Chinese style, but steamed rather than fried so less oily) This is one of hubby’s favorites. I vary a bit from this recipe depending on ingredients on hand, and make extra sauce. Also I sub hoisin sauce for the oyster sauce, hoisin is often vegan.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/steamed-eggplant-with-garlic-sauce
Mmmmm eggplant.
Good luck with the recipes. Hope you like them, pretty homestyle taste!
xox
jna
