Quick Japanese aubergines, aka Nasu Dengaku

I’ve recently been diagnosed with nearly-diabetes, and naturally, I am very keen to try to reverse that. It seems the best approach is near-starvation for a couple of months…I can’t quite do that just at the moment, but I can massively cut down on anything too outrageously starchy: that means that white rice, white bread, non-wholemeal pasta…. and my favourite potatoes are all off the menu.
Ah, potatoes! The ultimate comfort food…. there’s a whole post on the healing powers of mash on Saucy Dressings (follow this link). And the helpful potato even produces a sort of instant, pre-packaged version in the form of the jacket potato – simply slit, bake, add butter, salt and pepper, et voilà!
But did you know that the aubergine is just as accommodating? Criss-cross slits, drizzle in olive oil, bake, add a seasoning, et voilà! And the aubergine too is conveniently pre-packaged, also in its own skin.
In this case however, the seasoning is a little bit special because, unlike the baked potato which remains enclosed in its skin, the aubergine has a surface exposed, so the seasoning takes the form of a golden Japanese-inspired glaze. Sounds gorgeous… it is. Sounds a bit fiddly and exotic…it isn’t – it’s just a mix of mirin (or sherry or vermouth), miso, and honey.
Here’s what to do.
Quick Japanese aubergines, aka Nasu Dengaku
Serves – 2
Ingredients
- 1 large aubergine
- 2 tbsps olive oil…maybe a little more
- 1½ tbsps mirin…or sake, or sherry, or pink vermouth
- 1 tbsp miso (I use white miso)
- 2 tsps honey, the bitterer the better
- 2 tsps sesame seeds (or you could use furikake)
- Snipped chives or spring onions
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 210°C.
- Line a baking tray with foil (to save washing up) and oil it.
- Halve the aubergines, and cut a criss-cross deep into each without cutting through the skin.
- Slightly open out each half and drizzle in a little olive oil between the cuts.
- Roast in the oven for about ten minutes.
- Meanwhile mix together the mirin, miso and honey (to make a sort of dengaku miso).
- Spread this mix over the aubergines and return to the oven for another ten minutes or so – watch and check, the miso mix needs to caramelise, but not to burn.
- When the aubergine is cooked through and soft, serve with sesame seeds and chives sprinkled over, still in the skin, for guests to scoop out.