Miso glazed eggplant is an extremely delicious traditional Japanese dish. It’ a softly baked eggplant with a delicious, slightly salty miso glaze. It can be easily done at home and it’s naturally vegan and gluten-free! Serve it with cherry tomatoes and turmeric sauce!
If you have never heard of miso-glazed eggplant, then you surely miss one of the greatest vegan dishes. Miso glazed eggplant is a traditional Japanese style dish.
If you have a few spare eggplants, check out this yummy recipe for Spicy Roasted Eggplant Pasta that is also delicious and easy to make.
Miso glazed eggplant which is also called nasu dengaku is a wonderful way how to easily cook with eggplant. If you want some healthy and interesting vegan and a gluten-free recipe using eggplant, this miso-glazed eggplant will be the right choice for you.
What’s the best about this recipe? The miso glazed eggplant will turn caramelized at the end and will be slightly crunchy on the top and soft inside. The glaze made of mirin and miso paste will be sweet and salty. Very intriguing!
Japanese basics
Of course, if you are not familiar with Japanese cuisine, now you might be asking what mirin and miso paste is. Let me answer that for you.
Mirin is a lightly sweet Japanese rice wine using for cooking. Mirin usually contains about 14% of alcohol (that is less than sake) and it also contains more sugar. If you don’t have mirin at home or can’t find one, the best substitute would be dry sherry.
Mirin magically turns savoury dishes more acid and gives them a great light umami taste. It can be used to make udon noodles, ramen or teriyaki sauce.
Miso paste is a fermented thick paste that is used a lot in Japanese cuisine. It has a strong umami taste. It resembles smooth and solid peanut butter. Miso paste can also be chunky with visible little lumps. The taste is usually quite salty and savoury.
There are around 1000 different kinds of miso paste. They vary with colour, thickness, texture, and taste. The most frequent are white, red, and dark. They all can be used in the same recipe interchangeably, although it can affect the final flavour of a dish.
Miso paste is, of course, used to make miso soup. Add miso paste to the gravy, sauce, marinade, teriyaki, other soups, ramen, and udon noodles.
You easily make your miso glaze by mixing all the ingredients for a glaze. You might use a little whisk as the miso paste can be quite thick and bold. Once you manage to dissolve all the miso paste, lightly brush your eggplants (cut lengthways).
Bake the eggplants for 15-20 minutes until they start caramelizing and the surface turns lightly brown.
Make your turmeric sauce and drizzle it over the baked eggplant. Add halved cherry tomatoes. Top with crushed peanuts, chopped spring onion, and sesame seeds. DONE!!
Miso Glazed Eggplant With Turmeric Sauce
Ingredients
For Miso Glazed Eggplants:
- 2 large eggplant cut lengthways
- 3 tbsp smooth white miso paste
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp tamari sauce
For Turmeric Sauce:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 clove garlic peeled and minced
To assemble:
- handful cherry tomatoes halves
- peanuts crushed
- sesame seeds
- spring onion sliced thinly, only the green part
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C.
- Using a very sharp knife, cut a diamond pattern in eggplant flesh. Place the eggplants to a frying pan, the cut side up, and bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk all the ingredients for miso glaze. You might whisk for a while as the miso paste can be quite thick.
- Take the eggplant out from the oven and brush their flesh lightly with the miso glaze. Place back in the oven. Bake for additional 10 minutes, until the eggplants become caramelized and slightly brown on the surface.
- Prepare your turmeric sauce. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and set aside.
- Place the eggplant on a serving dish. Drizzle them with turmeric sauce and sprinkle them with sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, and sliced spring onion. Add halved cherry tomatoes.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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