Eggplant With Miso Sauce

• 4 small Japanese eggplants - the long, slender, pale purple kind
• 2 tablespoons safflower oil
• 1/4 cup white miso (soybean paste)
• 2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
• Sugar to taste

1. Trim stems of the eggplants and slice in half, lengthwise.
2. Brush with safflower oil.
3. Combine miso and sake in a small saucepan over low heat and stir.
4. Add sugar to taste - from a pinch to 3 tablespoons.
5. Stir until thoroughly blended.
6. Remove from heat but keep warm.
7. Place eggplant, cut-side down, on a grill whose coals are red-hot but no longer flaming.
8. Cover and cook for three minutes.
9. Uncover, turn eggplants, and brush the cut side with miso sauce.
10. Cover and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft and slightly charred.

purple kind, safflower oil, white miso, sake, sugar

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11917 (may not work)