Soy Glazed Eggplant Rice | Japanese Recipe

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 30 mins

Difficulty: Medium

Serves: 2

Soy Glazed Eggplant Rice | Japanese Recipe | 茄子の甘辛丼

This soy glazed eggplant recipe is delicious and easy to make! One of my favourite recipes to do with Japanese eggplant – I was looking for a vegetable dish to pair with an Unagi Kabayaki which we bought earlier and this Japanese eggplant recipe came to mind. So I decided to do an unagi and soy glazed Japanese eggplant don.

The flavour profile of the sauces for both the unagi and this soy glazed eggplant are nearly similar, with both having a side of savoury and sweetness to it. As the eggplant is a very mild and delicate vegetable, it takes on any flavour you put into it, so even having it on its own, without the unagi is already really good. This dish is super easy and if you use a smaller eggplant or have a bigger pan to use, this is literally a one pan dinner recipe.

Check it out!

Full Recipe: Soy Glazed Eggplant Rice

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE SOY GLAZED EGGPLANT

1 whole Japanese eggplant
Salt for seasoning
2 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons cooking oil
Half of a red onion, sliced thinly (Optional)
Spring onions (for Garnishing)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE

1 knob (about 1 inch) of grated ginger
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 tablespoon yellow rice wine
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
4 tablespoons of water

COOKING METHOD

Slice the eggplants lengthwise; but you can cut it into any shape you want, this depends on the size of your pan. If possible, try not to crowd your pan too much, like I did
Sprinkle salt on the sliced eggplant and set aside for at least 15 minutes. This action draws out the extra moisture and reduce the “air pockets” inside the spongy texture of the eggplant – this prevents the eggplant from absorbing too much of grease from the oil
Pat dry the excess moisture of the eggplant before coating with cornstarch
Place eggplants onto the pan and give it a nice sear, cook until both sides are golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side
Once all the eggplants are nicely seared, let’s work on the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low and fry the onions a little first, then add in the light soy sauce, yellow rice wine, grated ginger and sugar into the pan. Mix well and let it simmer for a few minutes
Start adding the seared eggplant slices back into the pan
As the eggplants simmer in the sauce, you want to also spoon the sauce over the eggplants frequently; continue doing so until you are happy with the sauce’s consistency and that all the eggplants are nicely coated with the sauce
Get a good amount of the sauce onto your rice and serve the eggplants on it
You can serve it just like that with some spring onions as garnish or you can pair this with a nice slice of Unagi Kabayaki and turn this into an unagi don instead!