Japanese Miso Eggplant Nasu Dengaku Recipe: Velvety Soft and Irresistible! (2024)
This miso eggplant or nasu dengaku is something really special. Baking the eggplant makes it velvety soft and melt in the mouth while the miso sauce is a very simple mixture of ingredients that you brush over and then grill! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!
Whenever we see this dish on the menu at Japanese restaurant we have to order it. It's like chicken karaage. I feel compelled to order it. But did you know that Japanese eggplant or Nasu Dengaku is an absolute cinch to make at home? If you make it at home you can also make sure that the eggplant is super soft and melting underneath that delectable miso paste topping! You can eat the whole eggplant except for the stem-the flesh is melty and the skin is also deliciously soft!
For some reason I always thought that nasu dengaku involved deep frying eggplant but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you just bake it in the oven and then grilled it with the paste. It's so much simpler than I could have ever dreamt up and produces the softest, most velvety eggplant or aubergine!
This miso paste is super versatile: have you ever had black miso cod? It's using the same miso paste on top! You can also use it on firm tofu or other fish, even chicken or pork works well with it!
Can I make this miso eggplant ahead of time? Yes! Both components, the roasted eggplant and the miso paste can both be made a day or two ahead and then the eggplant can be brushed with the miso paste and then grilled before serving.
Serve this with: This miso eggplant is a great side dish and goes so well with salmon belly rice pot, salmon kebabs, yakitori skewers, beef stir fry, Asian style beef cheeks, ginger pork belly or Drunken chicken wings
A note on pre-salting eggplants: you can do the extra step of salting the eggplants but I have only ever come across bitter eggplant once in many years of buying large ones. Just sprinkle salt generously over the eggplant's cut side and rest for 30-45 minutes. Rinse the eggplant of the salt and then bake as directed.
Although we're still eating most of our meals at home, we're slowly coming out of our shells. I dined out a couple of weeks ago and it was at the same time exciting and nerve wracking. We went to a Japanese restaurant with Ivy and when we walked in they took our temperatures with a temperature gun. I'm not sure how accurate it was. I think my temperature was 37C, Ivy's was 36C and Mr NQN was a stone cold hypothermic at 34.1C!
We have been trying to stick to the distancing rule but we've found that even with visual cues like crosses on the floors at shops, a lot of people don't seem to. I was in line at the bottle store standing on the cross when I hear a couple behind me talking who were standing way so close that the tip of their bottle brushed against my coat. I tried moving away from them and staring pointedly at them but they didn't get the hint at all.
As for Mr NQN, he could only throw one joke. Some of you may know that he's half Finnish and the Finns are known for their introversion-some say that they're the most introverted of the Northern Europeans. He heard a joke that a Finnish person had made when hearing about the distance rule.
He said, "TWO METRES? That's ridiculous. Why so close?".
So tell me Dear Reader, are you slowly coming out? Do you find that people are observing distances? And do you say anything to them? Any ideas on how to politely say it?
Japanese Miso Eggplant Nasu Dengaku
Did you make this recipe? Share your creations by tagging @notquitenigella on Instagram with the hashtag #notquitenigella
Rated 5 out of 5 by 6 lovely readers. Share your rating:
Print Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
3 large eggplants
1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs. peanut or grapeseed oil
80g/3ozs. white or red miso paste
2 tablespoons/40ml/1.4flozs sake
2 tablespoons/40ml/1.4flozs mirin
2 tablespoons/40g/1.4ozs white sugar
2 teaspoons/10ml/0.3flozs. rice or white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
A few drops sesame oil
3 tablespoons/26g/1oz. sesame seeds
3 tablespoons/9g/0.31ozs finely chopped chives
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a large baking tray with parchment. Slice the eggplants in half and flip them over and slice a little bit off the base so that the eggplant sits squarely on the baking tray. Score the eggplant on the main cut side in a diamond pattern but don't slice all the way through.
Step 2 - Brush each eggplant half with oil. The eggplant will soak it up. Bake for 35-45 minutes taking out half way to see if they need any more oil. The eggplant should be soft and yielding by the time it is done.
Step 3 - While it is baking make the miso sauce (this can be made 1-2 days ahead too). Place the miso paste, sake, mirin, sugar, vinegar and ginger in a small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes until the miso paste has dissolved. Add the sesame oil and stir.
Step 4 - Switch to the grill. Brush the eggplants with the paste and grill for 3-4 minutes. Add the sesame seeds and grill for a minute or until the seeds are toasted. Sprinkle with chives and serve.
Remove from the oven and garnish with chopped scallions and sesame seeds. If your eggplants are larger with tougher skin, scoop and eat just the flesh. These (pictured) were tiny and tender enough to eat with the skin.
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.
You can eat nasu dengaku as a side dish, in which case this is enough for four to share, or turn it into a meal on its own with a crunchy, zingy cabbage salad. In either case, you need a bowl of freshly steamed rice nearby as a foil for the richness of this wonderful dish.
It has a dry, slightly bitter flavor that helps to balance out the sweetness of the mirin in this dish. Sake also contains amino acids, which can help add depth of flavor to the miso sauce. Sesame Seeds: Sprinkle a few white sesame seeds on your eggplant just before serving.
The plant's leaves and blossoms, however, can be poisonous. The nightshade family of plants, including eggplants, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos, contains an alkaloid called solanine, which can be toxic in high concentrations.
Eggplant may be a tasty vegetable, but it also has health benefits for those who eat it. The dark purple skin of eggplant contains nasunin, a unique antioxidant that experts believe may preserve and protect cell membranes.
Japanese eggplants offer a sweeter, more tender, and more delicate taste than standard American eggplants. Because they're smaller and longer, they possess fewer seeds. This rids them of that typical vegetal bitterness that you'll find in some eggplant varieties.
Thai eggplants, for example, look more like tiny watermelons, while Japanese eggplants look just like their emoji rendering. Read up on the different types of eggplant and how to use each so you too can be an auber-genius.
Because of its firm texture, which turns creamy during cooking yet holds its shape, Japanese eggplant is especially good for baking, broiling, grilling, and stir-frying. All eggplant is a good source of dietary fiber, B vitamins, and potassium. It's also rich in powerful antioxidants.
I like to serve it on some short grain rice, but brown rice would be great too. To accompany it, I've chosen some blanched spinach which is seasoned simply with soy and sesame plus plenty of spring onions and some more sesame seeds. You could add a soft boiled egg or tofu in too, to make it even more substantial.
Eggplants are high in fiber and low in calories, making them an excellent addition to any weight loss regimen. Fiber moves through the digestive tract slowly and can promote fullness and satiety , reducing calorie intake. Each cup (82 grams) of raw eggplant contains 3 grams of fiber and just 20 calories.
Both have a nice, thin skin, don't contain many seeds, and have flesh that's extra creamy when cooked. Use either just like regular eggplant, but they're particularly great grilled or in stir-fries.
One of the most popular was the long, thin, purple eggplant from Taiwan known as Ping Tung. This is an exceptional eggplant with sweet, pleasant tasting flesh. The plants are incredibly prolific and produce throughout the entire season.
While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.
Skin: The skin of globe eggplants is thick and sturdy, and chefs tend to remove it before cooking. Conversely, the skin of Japanese eggplants is delicate, thin, and doesn't require peeling, making it easier to eat.
Yes, the skin of Chinese eggplant is tender and entirely edible. Unlike the thicker skin of some Western eggplants, Chinese eggplant's skin cooks down to a soft texture, so there's no need to peel it. It also adds color and additional nutrients to the dish.
I think that the only use for the roasted, dried,shriveled eggplant skin is the compost heap. When I roast an eggplant I do so on the stove top so the skin is charred and useless, but i can imagine that it might LOOK usable but it is often bitter to start with and 30 minutes in the oven is not likely to help that any.
Introduction: My name is Lidia Grady, I am a thankful, fine, glamorous, lucky, lively, pleasant, shiny person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
