Asian Recipes
Nasu is eggplant in Japanese. Sweet miso paste can glaze dishes with ingredients such as tofu or konnyaku. These dishes are called Dengaku. So Nasu dengaku literally means, miso glazed eggplant.
The size of eggplants in Australia are surprisingly huge compared to those in Japan. You can get bigger eggplants in Japan, called “Kome Nasu”. Generally speaking though, eggplants in Japan are fairly small. But eggplants in Australia are huge!!
Because of the size and also the astringent taste that eggplants can have, we need to do a little bit of preparation. A popular and photogenic way is to cut them in half, lengthwise. Then score around the edge and diagonally so that it cooks evenly and quickly in the microwave. Soaking the eggplant in water removes astringent taste.
Super easy! While the eggplant is soaking in water, just combine all ingredients and place over medium heat and cook until the miso paste becomes shiny. It does not take a long time either, so cook only for a few minutes.
Miso is commonly classified by its colour, Shiro(white), Aka(red) and Mixed. White miso is sweeter in taste but we add sugar to the glaze anyway so any type of miso is good to use. I make my own miso and if you would like to know more about miso, read my previous post about how to make miso paste.
Grated ginger and chopped shiso leaves complement the sweet miso flavour. And sesame seeds add a nutty flavour to miso paste. Shiso may not be a familiar herb or garnish but it is my favourite and a common herb in Japan. Garnishing Sashimi and Sushi with Shiso is quite normal.
Use about 1 tbs of sweet miso paste for a half of a large eggplant. You should have some left over miso glaze. Don’t throw it away though, because it can be used for glazing other ingredients such as salmon, tofu, konnyaku and is even daikon in Oden, the Japanese one pot dish.
Here is my updated Miso eggplant recipe. I am 100% sure you will love this and it could even become your staple weekday dinner menu.
Check out these traditional and classic Japanese dishes using Miso paste such as simmered Mackerel in Miso (Saba Misoni), Miso Egg for Ramen and Miso Glazed Salmon
Nasu Dengaku
Nasu Dengaku is a delicious Japanese dish made from eggplant coated in a tasty sweet miso glaze! It’s super easy to make!
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Japanese
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 serves
Calories: 219kcal
Author: Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles
Ingredients
Miso glaze
▢1.5 tbs miso paste
▢1.5 tbs sugar
▢1/2 tbs Mirin
▢1/2 tbs Sake
▢1/2 tsp dashi powder *4
▢1 tbs olive oil
▢1 Eggplant
▢1 tbsp grated ginger to garnish
▢1 tbsp sesame seeds to garnish
▢1 tbsp chopped Shiso leaves to garnish
Instructions
Sweet miso paste for glazing *1
Put all the miso glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan and simmer for a couple minutes over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the glaze become shiney.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare eggplant
Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.
Score around the eggplant and diagonally.
Soak the eggplant in water in a large bowl for about 5 minutes to take off the bitter taste.
Take the eggplant out of the water and wipe off the excess water with a paper towel.
Gently wrap the eggplant with cling wrap microwave for 5 min.
Grill and glaze
Start to preheat the oven on grill setting *2
Put the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the eggplant until the cut side becomes brown about 5 minutes and turn the heat off. *3
Glaze the eggplant surface with about 1 tbs of miso mixture each.
Put the frying pan in the preheated oven and grill for 3-5 minutes.
Serve it on a plate and top with grated ginger, garnish with shiso and sprinkle sesame seeds over.
Notes
*1 make this miso glaze while the egg plant is being soaked in water.
*2 my conventional oven has grilling settings and temperature for that setting is 200°C.
*3 I used open proof iron skillet pan.
*4 For Vegan, use 1 tbs of shiitake mushroom dashi stock or if you can find powder form of shiitake mushroom dashi, use 1 tsp of the powder.
This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Chopstickchronicles.com. Thanks so much!
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