Caramelised Miso Eggplant
I've had my fair share of narly eggplant over the years. Well I'm not that old and it's never been that bad, but eggplant is one of those things that people think they don't like only because they've had it under-cooked - something that is FAR too easy to do. So the answer is cooking it at a higher heat and for a wee bit longer than you think you need too and voila, douse it in a marinade and you'll be in aubergine heaven.
This Miso eggplant makes one mighty good midweek dinner that will have any and all who get to wrap their gobs around it, thoroughly impressed ! It's soft, flavourful and the eggplant just melts away into the dish so there's no real "hunks" of the stuff you have to suffer through. I promise you'll like it. All the best honeybunches xo
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp miso paste (I used white miso)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 heaped tsp minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sweet chilli sauce (optional)
- 2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- 2 medium-sized eggplants
- a couple of pak choi if you want to whack in some green while you're at it
- cooked soba noodles and sesame seeds to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Make the marinade by mixing the miso with the next three ingredients until smooth in a medium-sized bowl, then adding the rest of the ingredients down to and including the tamari. A whisk helps get it nice and smooth.
- Prepare your eggplant by cutting down the middle length-ways, then scoring the interior of each half, like you would a mango cheek. Don't be afraid to make a lot of scores - this helps it to cook quickly and gives it more pockets for the marinade to ooze into.
- Prepare a baking sheet with baking paper and then pour the marinade into all the crevices and scores of the eggplant. This can be a messy process - but don't stress if it's not perfect, the marinade will ooze into all parts when it's in the oven anyway. Repeat with the other eggplant halves, using up all the marinade. If you have some left over just poor it ontop.
- Cook in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until thoroughly caramelised and golden brown. Add some pak choi in the last 10 minutes of cooking (roughly chopped or however you like), if using.
- Serve over some soba noodles and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Enjoy and devour !!