Spicy Japanese Eggplant

One of the magical parts about cooking (and life) is that very often, blind explorations (and sometimes, mistakes) lead to discovery. The other night, Adam was preparing eggplant for a grilled vegetable sandwich. I casually suggested he salt it and promptly headed for the living room. When I returned, I found that instead of a light salt sprinkle, each slice was coated in a fresh-ground-salt crust. With a shrug, Adam told me he was, as usual, just going with his gut. 20 minutes later we rinsed off the salt and patted the eggplant dry. After a light oil coating and some grill-time, the eggplant had become something completely swoon-worthy. Eggplant. Amazing. Who knew?

While most recipes call for a light salting to "draw out the bitterness", a heavy salting results in tender, savory hunks of melt-in-your-mouth eggplant. A new discovery!

Since then, I've had eggplant on the brain non-stop. I whipped up some vegetarian phở and needed something else to complete our meal. This spicy glazed eggplant is beautiful on its own or could be served over rice.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium eggplant
• sea salt
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp mirin
• 1 Tbsp finely minced or shredded ginger
• 2 Tbsp Japanese Seven Spice (I made my own out of ground equal parts dried lemon peel, hot chili, furikake (with nori and sesame), poppy seeds and peppercorns)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dice eggplant into large chunks. Spread on paper towels. Salt heavily and toss to coat. Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse eggplant in large bowl of water. Pat dry, thoroughly.
3. Combine soy sauce, mirin, ginger and 1 Tbsp seven spice mix, set bowl aside.
4. Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat.
5. Add eggplant and saute until browned and softened, about 8 minutes.
6. Add sauce mixture and toss to coat, about 1-2 minutes.
7. Plate and garnish with extra spice mixture.