Miso And Ginger Glazed Eggplant - Vegan And Gluten Free!

Miso-glazed eggplant makes a wonderful appetizer or side dish

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Miso
When in a Japanese restaurant, I always order miso soup or have something that's been glazed with miso. But to be honest, I haven't cooked a lot with it at home. But this week I've been experimenting quite a bit with miso. Yesterday I failed to recreate a good miso soup but made a pretty good miso-tahini dressing (I'll blog that in the future when I perfect it). Today for lunch I used miso, in combination with grated ginger, to glaze and then broil eggplant, and it came out great! It took less than 30 minutes so it would be a pretty easy appetizer or side dish when entertaining. Although most people sprinkle sesame seeds on this dish, I use raw hemp seeds to get a bit of omega-3 into the recipe.

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Miso-Ginger-Glazed Eggplant     
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]
Requires large, shallow, roasting pan

Spray organic olive oil
1.5 pounds Japanese eggplant
1/4 cup unpasteurized, organic, mellow white miso
1 packed teaspoon finely grated, peeled, fresh ginger root
2 teaspoons sesame oil 
2 teaspoons gluten-free, low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon organic cane sugar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon raw hemp seeds
1 scallion, thinly sliced (1 tablespoon)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease roasting pan with olive oil or olive oil spray.

Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and place in the roasting pan. Spray the top of eggplant with olive oil. 

Place eggplant in the oven and roast until they soften, about 15 minutes.

Spray oil is a way of using much less oil on eggplant, a vegetable known for absorbing large amounts of it.
Sesame oil is used for the miso glaze.

While the eggplant is roasting, make the glaze by combining miso, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and cane sugar in a small bowl. If it's too thick to spread, add a tablespoon of water. Set aside.

Westbrae white miso is made with cultured organic white rice, organic whole soybeans, water, and sea salt.

Remove the eggplant  from the oven. Spread miso glaze uniformly over the eggplant. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Spread glaze over the eggplant.

Carefully, wearing oven mitts, raise the oven rack to about 5 inches from the broiling element. Place the miso-glazed eggplant under the broiler and broil until brown and bubbly, about 4 to 6 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't char.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle the eggplant with hemp seeds and scallions, and serve immediately.

Sprinkle with hemp seeds and scallions.

Per serving: 117 calories, 5 g total fat, 0.6 g saturated fat, 356 mg omega-3 and 2,136 g omega-6 essential fatty acids, 5 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber, and 762 mg sodium.

Check out my ebook, Health Begins in the Kitchen!