Nasu-miso Stir Fry

Menu on Friday; 
  Genmai (brown rice)
  Natto (fermented soybeans) with green onion
 Zucchini okaka-ae (Boiled zucchini dressed with sesame oil, soy sauce, Japanese "Dashi" broth and dried bonito shreds)
  Nasu no miso itame  (Stir fried egg plant in sweet miso sauce) 

 After quite a few nights of heavy dinner, it was time to treat myself with some low calorie meal with vegetables and grains.  I still had a eggplant and zucchini from Ratatouille night and I came up with making several "Obanzai" (home made hearty side dishes mainly with vegetables in Kyoto dialect) to go with Natto and brown rice.  Natto is super nutritious but the downside is its strong flavor and texture.  It's like gourmet cheese with really strong smell in French cuisine metaphorically and it's definitely not everyone's favorite, even for Japanese.  I'm still impressed by my husband who loves eating it because I don't know any other non-Japanese who really likes Natto!  I'm sure he was Japanese in his previous life.

"Nasu no miso itame" is an easy&quick dish you can cook without too-niche ingredients, but will still taste very authentic Japanese.  I added pork and ginger to the basic recipe but you can do without.  Here's my recipe.


-Feb. 21 grocery shopping € 8.94 / € 55.01 left

Ingredients(serves 3-4)
1 large eggplant
150g/5.3oz ground pork
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
20g/0.7oz ginger
1 tbsp. miso paste
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. sake
1 tbsp. soy sauce

Directions 
1. Grate ginger.  Prepare a mixture of miso, sugar, sake and soy sauce in a small bowl.
2. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a wok or frying pan add ginger, ground pork.  Cook over medium heat until meat is cooked.
3. Cut eggplant into bite sizes and add to the wok.  Add the rest of oil and cook for 2-3 min. until eggplant are soft.
4.  Stir in seasoning mixture and cook another minute.