Eggplant "steaks"

I wanted to make these lotus root cakes for dinner tonight but the supermarkets I went to were all out of lotus roots (and i went to TWO).

So.... As I walked down the supermarket aisle wondering what I was going to do, I saw a flash of purple: eggplant. I love eggplant. I've featured two different ways of using eggplant in this blog so far, so here's a third:

Miso-glazed eggplant

Eggplant is really such a versatile vegetable, and it's pretty!! Plus it's really good for you. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say it's low in calories, high in fibre and chockfull of vitamins.

The eggplant I used was pretty big so I divided the recipe by 3 and the glaze was just enough. Though I have to say it's not so much a glaze as it is a thick sauce. I used pre-seasoned miso because that was all I had on hand, though i know shiro miso would have been a much better fit. Didn't use that much oil too, I sliced the eggplant into quarters and just rubbed them with a little olive oil... Pan seared them because I was too lazy to broil them, but I did pop them into the toaster oven so that the sauce would caramelise a little. Garnished with a little sesame oil, raw sesame seeds (calcium!!) and spring onions.

I call them "steaks" because it really felt like I was eating a cut of meat; the eggplant is very filling and I felt good after I was done- the eggplant is "heavy" enough to make you feel like you had a full meal, yet light enough so that you don't feel gross after you're done.