Recipe by Astushi Sato
Ingredients for about 4-5 people:
about 10cm square kombu seaweed (seaweed for dashi/broth)
450ml water
100ml soy sauce
100ml mirin
2 small aubergine
vegetable oil
a sprig of chives
a small knob of fresh ginger
a small portion of daikon radish
1. Put the kombu in the water in a pot and leave sit for 30 mins.
2. Heat the water with the kombu on the stove.
3. Before the water boils, remove the kombu from the broth and skim the foam on top of the water.
4. Add soy sauce and mirin to the broth and bring to a boil, remove from the stove as it starts to boil. Leave it cool.
5. Cut the aubergine into pieces about 1cm in thickness, fry them in a pan with vegetable oil starting with the skin side. Lightly fry the flesh sides too. Do not cook too long to keep the texture of the aubergine. 6. Remove excess oil and place the aubergine into a bowl and add the sauce until the it covers all the aubergine, then let it sit in the fridge to cool for a few hours until time to serve. Save unused sauce as it can be used as a tempura or noodle sauce. 7. Thinly slice chives, grate ginger and daikon. 8. To serve place the chilled aubergine and some sauce in a bowl and garnish with chives, ginger and daikon. Serve chilled.
An alternative non-vegan recipe is using katsuobushi fish broth instead of kombu and sprinkling katsuobushi on top of the aubergine when serving.
Presented in small vintage Arita ware bowls, part of Maison Sato’s selection. Available on our online store.