Yaki Nasu: Chilled Roasted Eggplant

I wanted to start cooking more Japanese food so I recently joined a Japanese cooking group called Washoku Warriors. We're cooking our way through Elizabeth Andoh's cookbook, Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen. I'm looking forward to trying new dishes!

This month's challenge was open so I chose an eggplant dish. The only time I buy eggplant is when I make it for get-togethers so I can share it with friends. It's the one veggie that my fam doesn't care for so I hardly ever buy it. I love roasted Japanese eggplant so I decided to make yaki nasu, a chilled roasted eggplant dish for Challenge #12. My Obaa-Chan (Grandma) and my Mom made this dish often so I was looking forward to trying my hands at this as well. It was delicious and I even got Son #2 who has a total aversion to eggplant to eat a few bites. Eggplant obviously isn't an "egg" product, but the name alone makes him cringe due to his egg allergy. I'm glad he tried it and liked it. :) 

This was perfect served alongside Challenge #11's Hiyashi Chuka. It's great over a bowl of rice, too.

Yaki Nasu: Chilled Roasted Eggplant

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 Japanese eggplants
• 1 green onion, sliced

marinade:

• 3/4 c basic sea stock (p 92- kombu, water, katsuo-bushi)
• 3 tbs seasoned soy concentrate, divided (I used garlic and kombu infused soy sauce.)

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler or prepare a hot grill.
2. Wash eggplants and make 3-4 shallow slits in each eggplant. Broil/grill for 5-8 mins or till tender, turning occasionally. 
3. Remove eggplants from heat. When cool enough to handle, cut off stem and remove skin. Slice into lengthwise strips.
4. Make marinade using 1 1/2 tbs soy concentrate (reserve the rest till serving time). I didn't make the sea stock as I was given a tea bag-like packet from my Mom that I added to water to make "instant" sea stock. So easy!
5. Add eggplant to shallow glass pan so the eggplant strips are completely covered by the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hr or overnight for best flavor.
6. When ready to serve, remove eggplants from marinade and place on serving dish. Drizzle reserved/remaining soy concentrate over eggplant and garnish with sliced green onions. ENJOY!

Source: Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen by Elizabeth Andoh