Name: Miso Roasted Aubergine
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 1 large aubergine; 1 Tbsp white miso paste; 2 tsp tamari soy sauce; 1 tsp apple cider vinegar; 1 Tbsp sesame seeds; 1 Tbsp water

A super easy go-to midweek dinner: Miso Roasted Aubergine! It takes this delicious vegetable to a whole new level.

I’m simply in love with the delicious vegetable that is aubergine – and roasting it in the oven with a delicious miso flavour is one of my favourite ways to enjoy this goodie for a mid-week dinner. Miso Roasted Aubergine recipe (or roasted eggplant if you’re in the USA!) is so simple to make you’ll be surprised why you’ve not tried it sooner! I always find that it makes the aubergine the star of the show on the dinner plate and I like serving mine with steamed vegetables and rice (sushi rice here) but it goes with all sorts of food!

Little tip on the side: Drizzle some toasted sesame oil over your rice and vegetables – yum!

What you’ll need to make this Miso Roasted Aubergine Recipe

Ingredients

Aubergine
White miso paste
Tamari soy sauce
Apple cider vinegar
Sesame seeds
Water

How to make this Miso Roasted Aubergine Recipe

To start with, preheat your oven to 190ºC before washing your aubergine and gutting it in half, length-ways.

Criss-crossing the aubergine

To start the recipe, one important step is how you cut your aubergine. I cut mine in half lengthwise and then create a criss-cross pattern along the inside flesh, keeping the cuts about 1cm apart. Be very careful when doing this, so that you don’t cut yourself (been there, done that!).

Creating this cutting pattern on the insides of the aubergine will allow for the miso sauce to be properly absorbed and distributed across the aubergine, creating a delicious and flavoured aubergine, rather than just a roasted miso layer on the top. At the same time, it will also help your aubergine halves cook quicker – more surface area to be exposed to the heat in your oven, shorter cooking time. Perfect!

The marinade for the miso roasted aubergine

As this is a quick and easy recipe for a simple dinner, I like to keep the miso glaze/marinade just as simple, using only a few key ingredients: White miso paste, Tamari soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sesame seeds and a little water to thin and smoothen the marinade.

Please ensure to use white miso paste over brown miso paste, if you’re recreating this recipe. Both have an entirely different taste – white miso paste is smoother and has a naturally light sweet flavour, whilst brown miso paste is sourer. The sweet-ish white miso flavour will work perfectly with the addition of Tamari soy sauce to create a sweet-salty flavour explosion for you.

The apple cider vinegar adds a nice acidity to the marinade and also aids in breaking down the thick miso paste into a smooth marinade. If you don’t have apple cider vinegar to hand you can also use lemon juice – though this will alter the taste (not negatively, if you like lemon though!).

For a little crunch and addition of some texture, I like to add sesame seeds to my marinade – and add a little more onto the finished dish.

All you have to do now is blend all these ingredients together until smooth. If you don’t have a blender, or you’re looking to buy a new one then you might want to consider buying one from Greenis! Not only do they have a whole range of powerful blenders, but as it’s an affiliate link you’ll be supporting me and my content.

Getting oven ready

Next, let’s get your aubergine ready for the oven. Place the halves on a lightly greased baking tray (or a baking sheet) with your criss-cross pattern facing upwards before gently spooning on the miso mixture onto each half.

Finishing up

Once you’ve roasted your aubergine for 15 minutes, serve up with rice, steamed vegetables and a sprinkle of sesame seeds – if you like sesame seeds that is! I’ve used the Sesame Toragashi Spice Blend by Wicked Kitchen, which gives it a special kick!

This recipe is:

100% vegan
naturally gluten free (make sure to stick to tamari soy sauce, which is gluten free)
easy to make
super quick, only taking 20 minutes from start to finish
healthy
low fat
full of fermented miso goodness
delicious
the star of your dinner plate!