Nasu Dengaku Recipe

Super easy to make, Nasu Dengaku (miso glazed aubergines) is a classic Japanese side dish made with aubergines sliced in half, scored and brushed with a sweet and savory miso sauce.

15 Mins 60 Mins Easy Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

For the aubergines

2 aubergines
100ml olive oil
Sesame seeds

For the sauce

200g white miso paste
100ml dashi
25ml sake
100g fresh ginger, grated and squeezed to release its juice

For the pickle

200g kohlrabi
100ml apple cider vinegar
2 dried chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Method

First, make the pickle. Here I have suggested kohlrabi, but you could use turnips, daikon, radishes, cucumbers or indeed carrots, depending on what’s to hand – just make sure it’s a crisp, firm vegetable. Julienne your chosen vegetable so that each piece is a few millimetres wide. Next, put the vinegar and flavourings in a saucepan and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar and salt. Add the julienned vegetables and allow to cool.

Halve the aubergines lengthways through the stalk. Next, cut diagonal lines through each half in two directions to create a ‘hedgehog’ effect. The aim is to cut deeply to allow the sauce to permeate, but without cutting through the skin.

Heat some of the olive oil until smoking hot in a flat pan. Place each aubergine half, cut side down, in the pan for a couple of minutes to brown the surface. Once all four pieces are browned, place them in an ovenproof dish browned side up, cover with foil and bake at 180°c for 30 minutes or until meltingly soft.

While the aubergine is baking, make the sauce by whisking together the miso, dashi, sake and ginger juice. Use a spoon to cover each piece of aubergine generously with sauce, making sure that the sauce goes down between all the cuts. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and place the whole thing under a hot grill until browned and sizzling.

To serve, arrange the aubergine pieces on cooked white rice and add a small mound of drained pickled vegetables to the side.

Recipe notes

Super easy to make, Nasu Dengaku (miso glazed aubergines) is a classic Japanese side dish made with aubergines sliced in half, scored and brushed with a sweet and savory miso sauce.

This Nasu Dengaku Recipe serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter.

“From the end of July, one of our key crops at the farm is beautiful purple aubergines – we sell lots in the shop and have to be resourceful in coming up with different recipes for the restaurant. One of our firm customer favourites is this simple Japanese dish.”
Worton Kitchen Garden

Vegan alternative

The recipe as it stands is not vegan because of the dashi in the sauce. Dashi is typically made with bonito flakes (dried fish) and/or kombu (seaweed). While kombu is vegan, traditional dashi that includes bonito flakes is not.

To make this recipe vegan, you can substitute the dashi with a vegan alternative.

Use kombu and shiitake mushrooms to make a plant-based dashi:

Soak a piece of kombu (about 10 cm) and 2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms in 500 ml of water for a few hours or overnight.
Simmer the mixture gently for 10 minutes, then strain.

This substitution makes the recipe fully vegan, assuming all other ingredients (like the sesame seeds and olive oil) are free from cross-contamination with animal products.

Sobell House publishes second cookbook with vegeterian recipes from celebrities and local chefs

About this recipe

This Nasu Dengaku Recipe is from Food & Wellness: The Sobell House Vegetarian Cook Book, courtesy of Worton Kitchen Garden.

Published to raise awareness and funds for the hospice, Sobell House’s second cookbook is a collection of over 30 stories and recipes from a wide range of celebrities and local chefs. All the recipes in this book are vegetarian, and many are also vegan.

Buy it on amazon.co.uk

Buy it from Waterstones

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