Warm Eggplant Salad With Sesame and Shallots

"This looked interesting, and I am posting here for safekeeping. Will update description when I try it. Good thing about it is that it offers substitutes for hard-to-find Asian ingredients. A recipe by Haryumi Kurihara, the "empress of Japanese domesticity" based on an article I cut out of the NY Times."
 
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photo by Sackville photo by Sackville
photo by Sackville
photo by PalatablePastime photo by PalatablePastime
photo by Rinshinomori photo by Rinshinomori
photo by Sackville photo by Sackville
Ready In:
20mins
Ingredients:
9
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Cut off stems of eggplant and cut in half lengthwise. Soak in cold water 5 minutes, drain and pat dry. Arrange on a microwave-safe plate, cover with plastic wrap and cook until softened and tender (3-6 minutes). Let stand a few minutes to finish cooking. Or steam eggplant 5-7 minutes or until limp and tender.
  • In a bowl combine sugar, soy sauce, sake (or sherry), vinegar, sesame seeds and sesame paste (or peanut butter).
  • Cut (skinned if desired) eggplant into strips about 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long. A handful at a time, wrap strips in paper towels and squeeze to get rid of extra water. Mound on serving plate.
  • Drizzle sauce over eggplant, and scatter myoga (or shallots) and shiso (or herbs) on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  • For Vegan if using Sake make sure the Sake is Vegan friendly.

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Reviews

  1. You can also use tahini instead of Japanese sesame paste.
     
  2. I don't know what I did wrong here but I followed the directions and the eggplant was like mush. I also should have peeled it because the skin was too tough. We didn't like the dressing either.
     
  3. I made this for ZWT4 as well. I used Sherry, peanut butter & a mix of mint and basil leaves. I also used Japanese eggplant. I served it with some grilled pork. Yummy!
     
  4. This is a deliciously different way to prepare eggplant! The sauce is flavorful and pares well with the eggplant. We used scallion and mint, but I'd be interested to try the Japanese ingredients some time. It's nice and easy to fix, too. Thanks for posting! Made for ZWT4. ~Sue
     
  5. This is for ZTW 4 - low fat recipe. Harumi Kurihara is one of my favorite Japanese home chef/cookbook author. Her sauces are always very good. Since I did not have eggplant, I used turnip greens and nanohana like vegetable from my own garden - just picked. This sauce goes well with any steamed vegetables. Like all of her sauces, this one was excellent. I love the contrast of shiso leaves (perilla) and I believe it is a major component of this sauce. Thank you Kumquat for posting this recipe.
     
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Tweaks

  1. You can also use tahini instead of Japanese sesame paste.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>Clockwise from upper left, my dear friends Cranberry, Quincy, Kumquat and Kiwi. All of our cats were born in the wild and adopted by us. Zaar Chefs I have met so far: Elmotoo, justcallmeToni, ~Rita~, Midwest Maven, Bird&amp;Buddha (both of them) and most recently, Ms*Bindy from upstate New York:) Wonderful, sweet, friendly people and great chefs! Most relevant thing to mention here is that I am a vegetarian, and recently became a&nbsp;vegan&nbsp;(almost 100%). To put vegetables and other things not meat or fish on the table I work as an actuary (in my case anyway, a combination of statistician, number-cruncher and/or programmer). For fun I like to travel. Just came back from&nbsp;Namibia, a peaceful democracy in Africa with lots of animals! Got some terrific pictures of lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, rhinocerous, hyenas, all kinds of antelopes, giraffes and zebras. Namibia is the second most sparsely populated country per square mile, just behind Mongolia. Update:&nbsp; We went to Italy this Spring.&nbsp; We had lots of pizza and pasta.&nbsp; The pizza is so much better in Italy, particularly the crust.&nbsp; The Amalfi coast was absolutely beautiful.&nbsp; Spectacular natural scenery (Canada and Alaska are really beautiful, Patagonia in Chile is sublime, Iceland is unique) has been my latest passion as far as travel destinations but I have seen quite a few big cities too (Paris, Berlin, London and Madrid to name a few). On my bulletin board at work I keep a list of every country I've visited (other than the U.S. of course). So far I've made it to five continents: Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and North America of course. I've got only two other continents to conquer:) I don't usually have difficulty finding vegetarian dishes here in the U.S. or overseas, but finding vegan dishes is much harder. I have no kids, just cats, Kumquat, Cranberry, and more recently Quincy and Kiwi. They are purebreds, of the breed alley caticus (okay, American shorthair I guess). Our cats are not vegetarians, though my boyfriend (significant other, long-term partner, whatever) is. I am a friend of all animals both tamed and wild. In addition I am a freethinker and my boyfriend studies philosophy. Either way, we get along pretty well.&nbsp; Also, please allow me to say that my BF and I recently bought a condominium in NYC.:)&nbsp; Pet peeve? Okay, I don't like public scenes, especially parents yelling at their children, lovers' spats, etc. If it must be done please do it in private:D Participation &amp; Awards:</p>
 
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