Pandemic Kitchen #1 Nasu Dengaku
What strange and worrying times we are in. 2020 is the year that I will be turning 30 in (my birthday is in fact 16 days away as of today), but little did I think a pandemic of a disease mankind had never met before would ravage the world and force our government to take the difficult but necessary step to put our country into lockdown.
I am an essential services worker, and the day I heard we would be moving into lockdown was the day I breathed a big sigh of relief. Many of my friends and family are not working in essential services and would be able to work from home, from the safety of their bubbles. A lockdown will eventually stifle the spread of COVID-19 amongst our community. But for the time being we must be patient. The hospitals have made a number of changes to prepare for the potential influx of very sick patients like we have seen overseas, but so far we have been blessed that our services have not been overwhelmed, and I think we have the lockdown coming in at the right time to thank for that.
As you know, this is a food blog. This is the first time in my entire adult life that I haven’t had a single meal out in… well first it was one week, pre-lockdown, and then it became two weeks, and now three. People probably think I don’t do a lot of cooking at home, having a blog dedicated to eating out and all, but my friend you are wrong. I am a foodie in the truest and multi-faceted sense of the word. I love me a meal out, but I also love cooking from home, making elaborate multi-hour dinner projects, having people over, and reading about food even.
So I thought, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. As long as the restaurants and bars remain closed, I’ll be writing about the things I’ve been making for dinner and on the days I get off. Feel free to try out the recipes, and @ me on Instagram if you post it, I wanna see it!
Autumn, my favourite season (and not just because it is the season I was born in) is eggplant season. At the start of the lockdown I had a couple of these plumptious, purple beauties in my vege drawer. I’m very partial to stuffing these like Ottolenghi does with spiced minced lamb and pinenuts over a warming tamarind water. But when I want something that is quick but satisfying, I look no further than J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipe for nasu dengaku (Japanese miso-glazed eggplant). This recipe is a great pantry-staples recipe, once you’ve procured an eggplant and some spring onions. Miso-paste and mirin can sit for an age in your fridge. The eggplant becomes so soft and gooey while the miso-glaze becomes richly caramelised. Serve it simply over steamed rice, this dish is a little umami bomb.
This is my altered version of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipe:
Directions:
Preheat an oven to grill 180 degrees.
Combine mirin, sake, miso, and sugar in a small bowl and stir with a fork until a homogenous paste is formed. Set aside.
Brush cut side of eggplants with vegetable oil. Lay the eggplants cut side up on a lined baking tray and grill on top rack of the oven for 10 to 15 mins or until golden brown. Transfer eggplant to a large plate and allow to cool slightly.
Carefully spread the miso glaze on the cut surface of every eggplant. Place on a lined rimmed baking sheet face up. Grill on the top rack of the oven until completely tender and glaze has begun to caramelize, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onion, and serve alone or with steamed rice.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons mild red or white miso
1 tablespoons sugar
1 egg plant OR 2 Japanese or Chinese eggplants, stemmed, split in half lengthwise.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 or 2 spring onions, sliced
Recipe edited from: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/05/japanese-miso-glazed-eggplant-nasu-no-dengaku.html