Miso Glazed Eggplant

🥗 Why We Love This Recipe

• Crunchy, caramelized, and delicious: We love how well-balanced this dish is. The eggplant brings a ton of flavor and spice, while the coconut rice serves as a mellow counterpoint, and the toasted cashews add a needed crunch.
• Great way to use eggplant: It's pretty tough to get a lot of flavor out of eggplant, and this recipe is up to the task with an incredibly flavorful glaze that adds a punch of umami flavor.
• Perfect for any time of year: this miso glazed eggplant is a year-round dinner favorite. It's especially good in late summer to early fall with locally grown eggplant!

🥘 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this miso glazed eggplant:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Miso: We used white miso in this recipe. White miso and yellow miso are both mild and would work well in this dish, but we would advise against red miso, which is much stronger and could be overpowering.
• Soy sauce / tamari: We used tamari in this recipe to keep it gluten-free. Soy sauce works too if gluten isn't an issue.
• Eggplant: we used a classic globe eggplant in this recipe (most common at American grocery stores), but really any variety will work in this recipe. What's most important is that they're sliced in a uniform size so they cook evenly.
• Coconut milk: we use full fat or "lite" canned coconut milk to cook the rice, which adds so much flavor and a rich, creamy texture. You can typically find this in the ethnic foods section of your grocery store.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

(1) Preheat the oven to 450°F / 230°C. Quarter the eggplant lengthwise, then slice into ½ inch slices.

Add the sliced eggplant to a colander and sprinkle generously with salt. Toss lightly, then let the eggplant sit for up to 30 minutes. Use a clean dish towel to dab the eggplant dry. 

(2) Transfer the eggplant slices to one or two baking sheets (make sure it has enough room to crisp up) and brush with sesame oil. Roast for 10 minutes, then flip the eggplant, brush with more sesame oil, and roast for another 10 minutes (20 minutes total).

(3) Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the rice, coconut milk, salt and coconut sugar to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, covered, for 18-20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

(4) Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, garlic, miso, ginger, sriracha and the juice from half of a lime in a small bowl. Whisk well.

(5) After the eggplant slices have roasted for 20 minutes, remove them from the oven and brush both sides generously with miso glaze.

Turn the oven to broil and return the eggplant to the oven for 5 minutes. Watch the eggplants carefully, as all broilers differ and burning can happen quickly. They're ready when the glaze is caramelized and crispy, but not burnt.

(6) To finish, make the chili garlic cashews.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with ½ tablespoon sesame oil. Add the cashews, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and salt and toast, stirring frequently, until the nuts are browned on most sides (less than 5 minutes). If they’re browning too quickly, turn the heat down to medium. Transfer the nuts to a bowl. 

To serve, divide the coconut rice between plates, top with eggplant slices, sprinkle with cashews, scallions and serve with lime wedges on the side. 

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Salting the eggplant: be sure to salt the eggplant and wait the full 30 minutes for the liquid to "sweat" out - this process will improve the flavor and the texture of the eggplant. If you don't salt the eggplant, it will take much longer to cook and won't be nearly as crispy. The end result in this recipe is perfectly tender, creamy eggplant on the interior and a salty, crispy, delicious exterior.
• Don't be afraid to use a little bit of force when patting the eggplant dry. The goal is to remove as much water as possible so they can get nice and crispy in the oven.
• While broiling, carefully monitor the eggplant, as it can burn pretty quickly. Some ovens will get the job done in just a minute or two, while others may take a few minutes.
• Don't skip the extras: We highly recommend making the coconut rice and the toasted cashews, as they both help to round out the dish!
• Storage: store eggplant, rice, and cashews together in an airtight container and enjoy within 2-3 days. The rice will turn into a hardened mess if the container isn't airtight, so make sure that lid is on tight!