Grilled Eggplants with Herbs
Anything eggplants; it’s as simple as that around my kitchen! These grilled eggplants make a flavorful asian-inspired side dish. Broiled, then peeled, the eggplants are topped with scallions, parsley, and bonito flakes.* The sauce is a base of soy sauce with a hint of garlic and ginger…
This recipe finds a place at our family table very often, and gets rave reviews when served at dinner parties.
Remove the bonito flakes and you get a vegan side dish… It’s pretty, different, and easy!
You can prepare the eggplants in advance, and set the sauce aside until ready to serve.
Grilled Eggplants with Herbs
Recipe credits: Rafaella Sargi
Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
5 to 6 Chinese eggplants**
5 scallions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley or arugula, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried bonito flakes
Directions
Place the oven rack to the top position; it should be about 8 inch (20 cm) away from the broiler.
Turn the broiler on “high” and wait a little bit for it to be ready.
On a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (parchment paper might burn… use aluminum foil), arrange the eggplants in a single layer. Using one small knife, pierce each eggplant in a few places (4 to 5 incisions). It will allow the steam to escape while roasting.
Place the baking sheet with the eggplant under the broiler for a total of 20 minutes, turning them every 4 minutes to make sure the skin is browned, a little charred, and homogeneously roasted.
As soon as you remove the eggplants from the oven, quickly rinse them under cold water. It will help with the peeling.
Peel the eggplants and place them back on the baking sheet… some moisture will drip. Give it some time… Let the eggplants cool to room temperature. Make the sauce ;)
Sauce Ingredients
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sauce Directions
In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients until well combined. Set aside.
Assembly
Once ready to serve, place the peeled eggplants on a shallow serving dish, top them with the chopped scallions, fresh parsley (or arugula), and bonito flakes. Drizzle some of the sauce on top of the eggplants and save the remaining on the side, for extra dipping.
Enjoy!
Leftover sauce make amazing salad dressing for the next day or for your poke bowl.
*Dried Bonito Flakes are paper thin shavings of smoked skipjack tuna. You can find them at the supermarket (specialty / ethnic food aisle), at your local asian market, or even online.
**Depending on your location, you might find Chinese Eggplants (long, narrow and light purple) or Japanese Eggplants (long, narrow and deep darker purple). Chinese eggplants tend to be sweeter because they hold less seeds than the Japanese variety. Both varieties have differences but they are totally interchangeable in this recipe. Use whatever you can find. Long, very thin and purple… the rest should be ok. :)
Recipe adapted from “Japanese Home Cooking” by Sonoko Sakai
