Miso eggplant is a Vegan Japanese side dish.* It is super easy to make and delicious. The best part of miso eggplant is that it has a delicious sweet miso paste glaze and the eggplant melts in your mouth.
What is Nasu Dengaku?
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.
The size of eggplants
The size of eggplants in Australia are surprisingly huge compared to those in Japan. You can get bigger eggplants in Japan, called “Kome Nasu”. Generally speaking though, eggplants in Japan are fairly small. But eggplants in Australia are huge!!
How to prepare eggplants
Because of the size and also the astringent taste that eggplants can have, we need to do a little bit of preparation. A popular and photogenic way is to cut them in half, lengthwise. Then score around the edge and diagonally so that it cooks evenly and quickly in the microwave. Soaking the eggplant in water removes astringent taste.
How to make miso glaze?
Super easy! While the eggplant is soaking in water, just combine all ingredients and place over medium heat and cook until the miso paste becomes shiny. It does not take a long time either, so cook only for a few minutes.
Which type of Miso to use for the glaze?
Miso is commonly classified by its colour, Shiro(white), Aka(red) and Mixed. White miso is sweeter in taste but we add sugar to the glaze anyway so any type of miso is good to use. I make my own miso and if you would like to know more about miso, read my previous post about how to make miso paste.
Garnishes for Miso Eggplant
Grated ginger and chopped shiso leaves complement the sweet miso flavour. And sesame seeds add a nutty flavour to miso paste. Shiso may not be a familiar herb or garnish but it is my favourite and a common herb in Japan. Garnishing Sashimi and Sushi with Shiso is quite normal.
Miso Glaze for everything
Use about 1 tbs of sweet miso paste for a half of a large eggplant. You should have some left over miso glaze. Don’t throw it away though, because it can be used for glazing other ingredients such as salmon, tofu, konnyaku and is even daikon in Oden, the Japanese one pot dish.
Here is my updated Miso eggplant recipe. I am 100% sure you will love this and it could even become your staple weekday dinner menu.
Check out these traditional and classic Japanese dishes using Miso paste such as simmered Mackerel in Miso (Saba Misoni), Miso Egg for Ramen and Miso Glazed Salmon
Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I can see your wonderful creations!
* This recipe can be vegan if you use 1 tbs of shiitake mushroom dashi stock. See how to make Dashi stock post. Or omit using dashi powder.
Nasu Dengaku ナス田楽
Video
Ingredients
Miso glaze
- 1.5 tbs miso paste
- 1.5 tbs sugar
- 1/2 tbs Mirin
- 1/2 tbs Sake
- 1/2 tsp dashi powder *4
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 Eggplant
- 1 tbsp grated ginger to garnish
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds to garnish
- 1 tbsp chopped Shiso leaves to garnish
Instructions
Sweet miso paste for glazing *1
- Put all the miso glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan and simmer for a couple minutes over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the glaze become shiney.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare eggplant
- Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.
- Score around the eggplant and diagonally.
- Soak the eggplant in water in a large bowl for about 5 minutes to take off the bitter taste.
- Take the eggplant out of the water and wipe off the excess water with a paper towel.
- Gently wrap the eggplant with cling wrap microwave for 5 min.
Grill and glaze
- Start to preheat the oven on grill setting *2
- Put the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the eggplant until the cut side becomes brown about 5 minutes and turn the heat off. *3
- Glaze the eggplant surface with about 1 tbs of miso mixture each.
- Put the frying pan in the preheated oven and grill for 3-5 minutes.
- Serve it on a plate and top with grated ginger, garnish with shiso and sprinkle sesame seeds over.
I couldn’t track down dashi powder but, being in Adelaide, decided to substitute Chicken Salt (which actually worked, but I was careful because of the salt). I figured that dashi sets off the umami flavour and so I needed something that worked in a similar way. Chicken Salt is used here on fish and chips and (I guess) BBQ chicken – it is a mix of salt, spices and vegetable powders (no chicken in it). Couldn’t specifically taste it in the miso glaze, but it definitely rounded out the miso.
Is there any Japaneses or Asian groceries in Adelaide? Or you can try online shop?
This is the best recipe for miso eggplant I had ever tried. Turned out perfect. Thank you.
Ohhh Hello Brad and Thank you for 5 star rating and comment.
I always order this at my favorite restaurant and have been trying for years to make something similar at home. This recipe did the trick!!! So perfectly balanced. I do have a question though, at the restaurant there is a thicker paste which has little pieces of bean I think in it. The paste is almost clumpy and not smooth like yours. But the flavors are pretty much identical. Any thoughts as to what they might do differently? Thanks again so much for sharing, I will be making this very often!!!
Hi Cassandra, The restaurant use different miso. When you make Miso, if you don’t mash soybeans, it become a bit lumpy 😀
This turned out beautifully and even my kids loved it! They normally don’t like eggplant, but they LOVE miso, so that flavor totally won them over, ha ha ha!
That’s great! Thank you Karly 😀
What an interesting dish! I’m not super familiar with Japanese cooking but I loved the combo of the eggplant with the miso glaze! So tasty.
Thank you Chrissy 😀
I’ve had this so many times at Izakaya, but I never thought it would be so easy to make at home. I was unfortunately missing mirin, but I mixed some water, sugar, and a splash of bourbon instead, came out great! 😀 Thanks!
Hi Justin, ohhh a splash of bourbon! sounds great! And yes, if you dont have mirin, sugar will make it sweet, glad that it came out great for you!
Thank you Shihoko for this great recipe. I love eggplants so I decided to try it. It was simply delicious! Thanks again.
You are welcome Sally 😀 Thank you for trying my recipe 😀
Wow your pictures are so amazing. Cannot wait to make this at home. Looks so delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Billy and you are welcome 😀
Miso glaze is one of my favorites. I would have never thought to use it on eggplant, but now I’m excited to try it!
I am glad to know this post was useful for you 😀
I am not familiar with this dish. It looks delicious and full of flavor.
Hi Ellen, Miso eggplant is delicious and full of flavour 😀
This worked really well despite the fact that I didn’t have sake or mirin. I had some really good miso and just used some white wine (reisling).
Had it with some okonomiyake and sweet potato cooked whole in the oven the. Sliced . A bit more miso paste on top
That’s fantastic Tess ;D
This looks way too sweet! Miso and mirin already contain sugar so if I make this, I shall leave out the sugar.
Hi Heidi, I like sweet taste 😀 Adjust the recipe to your taste 😀
I made this yesterday, it was delicious! I don’t have a microwave so I just baked the eggplant for much longer (about 30-40 minutes), and didn’t have sugar so I replaced it with honey. I just felt like there was slightly too much miso glaze for only one eggplant. But overall it was very nice and I will definitely make it again, as well as try your other recipes, thank you!
Thank you Maria, for making Nasu Dengaku.
This looks so yummy!
thank you!
never thought of this before wow!
Yes it’s super yummy and healthy, I hope you try it
Woooooooow! This recipe was so so delicious and easy! The sweet and savory glaze combined with the creamy eggplant was just incredible. I will make this regularly, thank you for the recipe 😊
Hello Kay 😀 I am glad that you liked it. This is my favourite and use same miso glaze for tofu, fish, meat and other vegetables. Eggplant probably is the yummiest.
at what temperature are we to bake and fry the eggplant?
Thank you Jeanette for your comment. It is 180 degree celsius. Just bake it, not fry 😀
I also love eggplant. My husband used the Japanese eggplant (long thin ones) cut lengthwise instead of the large oval ones. The you can fry in olive oil on the skin side for a few minutes, then smear the miso mixture and broil until done. Try it you’ll like it…..
Hi Betty, Thank you for your suggestion. I will try next time I have eggplant. I have seen long thin one in a local market in Brisbane 😀
Than you for this website! I’m Canadian but I love Japanese food and traditional culture. Do you still have a newsletter? I tried to sign up for it but had some difficulty. Than you again!
Thank you Candace 😀 Yes, we do send weekly newsletter. If you having trouble, we will add your email address manually. Would you like us to add your email to our mailing list?
The eggplants in the US are huge too… go figure 😉 Maybe you’re daughter will grow to like eggplant in all its forms when she gets older. When I was a kid my dad would make eggplant tempura nearly every weekend and I just wasn’t a fan. Now that I’m older, I LOVE eggplant! And this miso glaze looks phenomenal! Beautiful pictures too!
Thank you Kathleen 😀 Same here, My mom used to make eggplant tempura often too. I did not quite like it but now I looooove them<3