Miso Roasted Eggplant

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 190C.
2. 2
   Cut eggplants in half length-wise, and lightly score. Brush the eggplants with sesame oil and pop into the over to roast for 8 minutes- if your eggplants are slightly larger than ours, you probably need to keep them in the oven for closer to ten minutes.
3. 3
   While the eggplants are roasting, prepare your sauce. Begin by combining the mirin, chili and ginger in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. You want to allow the mirin to reduce almost by half- it will cook away and the chilli becomes beautifully sticky and jammy.
4. 4
   Next, add in the miso bit by bit so that it doesn't get too clumpy in the sauce, and then add the sugar. Mix everything vigorously, and once it's well combined, reduce the heat to low and let the sauce thicken up a bit.
5. 5
   Once the eggplants are done (they should be slightly soft to the touch but still retain their shape), remove them from the oven and change the oven setting to 'broil'.
6. 6
   Generously brush the eggplant with the miso sauce (I use a BBQ brush for this, which does the job nicely) and pop them back in the oven to broil for four minutes, or until the miso dressing can be seen happily bubbling away atop the eggplant.
7. 7
   After four minutes, remove the eggplant from the oven. Sprinkle the eggplant with sesame seeds and coriander, and serve immediately. We served ours as part of a big salad bowl with kale, broccolini and chicken, but the eggplant is beautiful with other veggies, as part of a rice bowl or with seafood.