Miso Glazed Eggplant

Super. Super fast. Super easy to make. Super delicious!
I've been really craving comfort food and flavors these past two weeks. My daughter and I went to Portland and bought Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), mini dried shrimp, soba noodles (noodles made of buckwheat), sweet fermented black beans, mochi (sweet rice cakes) and really good miso paste (fermented soybean paste usually used for making miso soup). My grams used to make traditional Japanese dishes that were so yummy. Thankfully the last time she came up to visit us in Oregon I asked her to cook and hand write her recipe for kabocha (but I'll save that for another post).
Now I had the miso paste and decided to make eggplant with it. When I went shopping at a local grocery store I couldn't find Japanese eggplant anywhere. Japanese eggplant is different than Italian globe eggplant. It's skinny and long and can come in colors of white, light green or purple. It's generally sweeter and doesn't require a soak in water to remove bitterness. When you're having comfort food there's no such thing as substitution in my book. Having not been able to find the Japanese eggplant, I decided to special order it from the store. Luckily it arrived in just a couple of days, so now I was ready to cook. This miso glazed eggplant recipe is so delicious for a couple of reasons. The comfort factor aside, you first saute the eggplant so it softens, creating this silky flesh. After you brush the glaze on top of the eggplant, you broil it, and that makes the best bubbly and tasty glaze ever. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, but oh so tasty. I'm super excited for you to try this recipe and tell me what you think. :)

Miso-Glazed Eggplant (serves 4)
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2-3 Japanese eggplant (about 1 1/2 lbs total)
1/3 cup red miso paste (you can find this in the health food refrigerated section)
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp sake or white wine
1/4 tsp. red chile flakes
cilantro leaves
1 tsp. sesame seeds

Cut your eggplant in half lengthwise and score the flesh 1/4 inch deep. Preheat broiler to high and place rack at least 4 inches from heat source. Heat oil in a skillet or frying pan over medium high heat. Add eggplant, flesh side down and cook until flesh starts to brown and soften, about 3-4 minutes. Turn eggplant over and cook for another minute.
In a small bowl, combine miso paste, sugar, sake and chile flakes. Turn eggplant flesh side up and transfer to a heat proof dish/sheet pan. Spoon or brush mixture onto eggplant. Broil eggplant until glaze starts to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Let cool slightly, then sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro. Serve with steamed rice.