straight up veg

I was talking about teriyaki with a friend of mine recently (yeah, my friends and I talk about weird things), and she was telling me that whenever she thinks of teriyaki, what comes to mind are thick pre-packaged sauces from the grocery store, or boring fast food places at the mall. I was totally saddened by that, and wanted to show her a really beautiful and tasty teriyaki dish.

This is a really simple recipe, with few ingredients, but it is delicious as a side or even served as a main dish with steamed rice.

**Feel free to click on the red links for photo references**

Recipe makes approx. 2 servings (uses 2 eggplants) 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Chinese eggplant (Japanese eggplant works as well, but Chinese has thinner skin)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 clove of garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
• Green onion (garnish)
• Sesame seeds (garnish) (optional)

1. Preheat oven – set to broil
2. Slice eggplants in half, lengthways and score flesh in a crosshatch pattern. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of olive oil on each half.
3. Mix together soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, garlic and ginger. Using a spoon or a brush, spread this teriyaki sauce over each eggplant (only about half the sauce should be used)
4. Put the eggplant in the oven for 45 minutes. Every 10 minutes, add more sauce to the eggplant (almost like basting).
5. Once the eggplant is ready, garnish with toasted sesame seeds and/or sliced green onion. serve on its own, or with rice. I like to take leftover sauce from the oven tray and pour it over the eggplant. Enjoy 🙂