Nasu dengaku – miso aubergine

A delicious miso aubergine recipe by Scott Hallsworth, this Japanese side dish would also make a fantastic vegetarian dinner recipe when served alongside steamed white rice.

📝 Ingredients

• 2 large aubergines, peeled
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 50 ml of rice vinegar
• 10 g of sugar
• 1 sheet of kombu, 5cm long
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of yuzu zest
• 100 g of mooli, peeled
• 225 g of caster sugar
• 150 ml of sake
• 150 ml of mirin
• 400 g of miso paste
• 50 g of walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 3 pinches of sesame seeds
• 1 pinch of sanshō
• 2 lemon wedges

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1To make the pickled mooli, bring the vinegar, sugar, kombu, salt and yuzu zest to the boil in a medium saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Thinly slice the mooli and add to the pickling liquid. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour
2. 2Meanwhile, make the den miso sauce. Heat the sugar with the sake and mirin until dissolved, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the miso paste. There will be some sauce left over from this recipe, but it’s incredibly versatile and can be used in other dishes. Den miso works particularly well as a marinade for grilled chicken, for example
3. 3Preheat a deep-fryer or deep pan of oil to 180°C and an oven to 220°C/gas mark 7
4. 4Cut each aubergine into 7 large chunks and deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper, then place on a baking tray
5. 5Coat each piece with a generous spoonful of den miso sauce and bake in the oven for 4 minutes, until the miso begins to caramelise
6. 6Arrange the aubergine pieces on serving plates and garnish with the walnuts, sesame seeds and sanshō pepper. Spoon the pickled mooli alongside the aubergine and serve with a wedge of lemon