Seiko's Eggplant

These days I post so rarely on this blog that every entry begins with a disclaimer.

Flight of the Conchords
"Hey man, I made you a pizza."

But not this time!

While I was in Berlin, I met a super cool lady who coincidentally lived just down the street from me. Seiko comes originally from Japan, though she's lived in Berlin for about 8 years. I was so grateful to have a friend around the corner -- when Berlin got cold and dark and miserable, we drank wine at the local tapas joint, cooked up a pot of Southwestern bean soup, ate greasy donuts at the Turkish bakery, and gossiped alternately about New Music and boys (despite neither of us having any boys in our lives about whom to gossip... somewhere out there Alison Bechdel just facepalmed). 

Seiko is a brilliant composer. Her latest projects have combined music with silent footage of instruments being played, or with provocative and ritualistic choreography, which creates the pantomimed shadow of a sound in the viewer's inner ear. It turns out that Seiko is also an awesome cook. When I mentioned my love of eggplants, she offered to show me her favorite Japanese eggplant recipe, which was SUPER yummy and easy to make: Eggplant and mushrooms with miso sauce.

But that's a bit of a mouthful, so to speak. I prefer to affectionately call it:

Seiko's eggplant

Ingredients: Sauce
2 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin (cooking sake)
1 tbsp sake

Ingredients: Stuff
1 large or multiple smaller eggplants, chopped/sliced
Red peppers
Scallions
Ginger
Garlic
Mushrooms

Chop up the scallions, peppers, and ginger and mix up the sauce. 

Slice eggplants into thin wedges.

Fry ginger and scallions in cooking oil. Add garlic.

While frying the aromatics, slice mushrooms.

Add the sauce, eggplant, and mushrooms and cook down with a lid.

Turning the heat down, of course, so nothing burns. Stir occasionally.

Not quite done, but getting there. If there's too much sauce, lift up the lid to allow evaporation.

Cooked down and almost caramelized.

The final result: totally delicious! Eat over rice, of course, and drink with horrible 3€ wine contributed by your houseguest (or... leave out that last part).