Easy grilled miso eggplant recipe (2024)

FAQs

What goes well with miso eggplant? ›

Here are some of my favourite ways to serve these oven-baked miso aubergines: Over rice noodles with chopped coriander and sesame seeds. On a bed or rice or quinoa with some Colourful Roasted Root Veg. Topping a mixed bean salad bowl with gluten free falafels and homemade hummus.

A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour.

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.

Bad eggplant looks wrinkly and dull-colored. Squishy texture and a rotten odor are other common signs of bad eggplant. Fresh eggplant lasts 2-3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the refrigerator, and 8-12 months in the freezer. Eggplant that turns brown after you slice it is okay to eat.

As a rule of thumb, pairing miso with earthy, woodsy flavors — think winter squashes like pumpkin, kabocha, and butternut; toasty, nutty flavors like brown butter, sesame, chocolate, and caramel; or hearty fruits like apples and bananas — adds its deep, dynamic flavor without being overpoweringly funky or salty.

Undercooked eggplant is often bitter, especially if you're using a thick-skinned globe eggplant commonly found at most grocery stores. Peel the skin or taste and cook the eggplant for a little longer if that's the case.

"When you lay them on the tray to roast, make sure they're in a single layer and give them enough room to roast properly. Eggplant is about 80 to 90 percent water, so when you put them in the oven they need space to evaporate all that water and caramelize properly," says Covarrubias.

In most cases, that's just not necessary. After an extended series of experiments, I found you only need to salt eggplant if you're going to be frying it, and even then only sometimes. If you're cooking it in some other way — roasting, grilling, steaming — salting has no effect.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

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.

What is the tastiest eggplant? ›

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.

The best place to store eggplant is not in the refrigerator, but at room temperature, where it's likely to last longer. Store eggplant in a cool spot, away from direct sunlight, and use it as soon as possible after harvesting or buying.

Preparing the Japanese Eggplant:

If desired, you can also peel the skin, although it is perfectly edible and adds to the texture and flavor.

The best side dishes to serve with miso soup are chicken dumplings, fried rice, edamame, tofu lettuce wraps, dragon roll, shrimp poke bowl, tostadas, shrimp stir fry, spring rolls, chicken teriyaki, vegetable tempura, sushi, udon noodles, steamed bok choy, gyoza, pork katsu, and yakitori.

This comes down to personal preference, although typical additions include crisp or sliced spring onions, tofu, wakame seaweed mushrooms, fish, and/or shellfish. The soup is generally served as a small portion side dish to complement a meal, such as a bowl of rice, sashimi or steak.