Japanese Miso Eggplant Nasu Dengaku Recipe: Velvety Soft and Irresistible! (2024)

FAQs

Do you eat the skin of nasu dengaku? ›

Place the rice into bowls, add the vegetables and edamame, drizzle over some of the extra miso sauce and top with the eggplants. Garnish with the sesame seeds, chopped spring onion and coriander. Enjoy! Note: you are not expected to eat the eggplant skin but by all means do if you desire.

Simply put, Miso Dengaku (味噌田楽) is a miso glazed dish, and popular ingredients for this recipe include tofu, eggplant, daikon, and konnyaku. Most of the ingredients are all vegetarian/vegan, but sometimes white fish is used for miso dengaku, and it's called Gyoden (魚田) or Fish Dengaku.

If you tasted this blindfolded, you would have a hard time guessing that it's a vegan dish. That's how extremely rich and intensely delicious nasu dengaku is. The eggplant is perfectly soft and the Classic Japanese miso glaze sweet, salty and packed with flavour. Just like they do at Nobu.

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.

That's too bad, because the skin of purple eggplants contains its most valuable nutrient, a powerful antioxidant called nasunin, one of a type of flavonoid called anthocyanins present in many fruits and vegetables with red, blue and purple hues (berries, beets and red cabbage, to name a few).

While the leaves and flowers can be toxic, the eggplant itself is safe to consume both raw and cooked, and the compound that some might be sensitive to, solanine, is only toxic when consumed in large quantities.

What does a Japanese Eggplant Taste Like? 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.

“Traditionally, rice miso is more expensive than barley miso, because the grain is more expensive,” explains Chung. Accordingly, wealthier merchants could afford to purchase more expensive miso made with rice, whereas farmers and townsfolk often ate miso made with millet, barley, or other common grains.

Nasu Dengaku is usually served as a side, but also makes a great vegetarian main. Simply add some plain rice (or cilantro lime rice), a few toasted cashews, lime slices, and enjoy! You can also serve with a side of quinoa, bulgur or black beluga lentils.

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.

What is the meaning of dengaku? ›

The general meaning of dengaku "refers to all rituals related to agriculture and thus to fertility and regeneration". It could be simply described as a form of dance in which some people play musical instruments while dancing in various combinations.

Japanese eggplants have a thin skin and sponge-like texture, which quickly absorbs sauces and flavors. They also have a slightly sweeter taste which pairs well with miso, soy sauce, and ginger. Try them in this miso eggplant dip, or roast them with miso and sesame seeds for a tasty side dish.

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.

However, eggplants also contain a substance, solanine, which is used to defend themselves against fungi and insects. It is precisely on this substance that the bitter taste of the eggplants depends. To eliminate it, the most common methods are soaking in water and vinegar and the salt technique.

Simply poke several holes all over your eggplant and then place it on a baking tray in the oven. After 45 minutes to an hour, your baked eggplant will develop a soft, buttery texture.

The skin is edible, so you can leave it on when preparing eggplant. Cut off the stem and then cut into your desired shape—slices and cubes are popular options. Cut off and discard any parts that are turning brown.

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.

Preparing the Japanese Eggplant:

Start by rinsing the eggplant under cool running water to remove any dirt or residue. Next, remove the stem and slice off a thin portion of the top and bottom. If desired, you can also peel the skin, although it is perfectly edible and adds to the texture and flavor.

If the skin is in good shape, it is edible, though some varieties have skin that is too tough to eat. Peel the skin with a vegetable peeler if you think it's wise – younger aubergine skin is fine to eat, but older, more ripened aubergine skin has a bitter taste.