Yesterday I made the Nasu Dengaku (Broiled Miso Eggplant) recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

The only potentially difficult ingredient for this dish is the red or brown miso. Your DeKalb Farmers Market carries a selection of miso, red miso included, so it wasn’t an issue for me. I’m not sure about the availability of miso at standard grocery stores.

The preparation is very simple: broil (or grill) the eggplant until lightly browned and tender; then coat the cut surface of the eggplant with a mirin, sake, miso, sugar mixture; then broil until caramelized.

Kenji suggests that the eggplant can be served on its own or over a bowl of rice. I opted for the rice bowl. I thought it was delicious: sweet and earthy. My wife thought it was good, too.

I’ll happily make this again. I think eggplant is easy to do wrong, too tough and chewy, so another good eggplant dish is welcome.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.