Japanese Food Tips

Eggplant is a popular ingredient often used in Japanese cooking. Unlike American eggplants, Japanese eggplants are much smaller, from about 12 to 15 cm long. They are almost always purple and are sold all year round. Those harvested from summer, especially late summer, to early autumn are best. There are many Japanese eggplant dishes using soy sauce or miso. Nasu-no-shigiyaki (Deep-Fried Eggplant with Miso) is one of the typical eggplant dishes. It is also a Buddhist vegetarian dish (known as shojin ryori). The dish is also delicious because eggplant is so compatible with oil. Another popular and delicious dish is mabo nasu, a Japanese-style recipe based on the popular Chinese mabo dofu. Other popular eggplant dishes include braised eggplant, miso soup with eggplant, grilled eggplant, stir-fried eggplant, and so on. Their recipes are published on our website, and other recipes using eggplant can also be found in the vegetable recipe category. Please look for them if you are interested in Japanese eggplant dishes.