Eggplant Disks with Miso Sauce

• 3 tablespoons mamemiso (soybean miso)
• 2 tablespoons mirin (sweet cooking wine)
• 1/4 cup sake (rice wine)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons minced scallion, green part only
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 kamonasu or 1 medium American eggplant, stemmed
• 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds or toasted white sesame seeds (see Notes)
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 5 shiso leaves, preferably, or mint leaves, julienned

1. In a saucepan, combine the miso, mirin, and sake, and mix with a spatula until smooth.
2. Add the sugar, and place the pan over medium-low heat.
3. Cook the mixture until it is no longer watery, about 5 minutes, stirring all the time.
4. Add the scallion and sesame oil, and mix.
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and set it aside.
6. Cut each eggplant into four 2-inch thick disks.
7. Make several shallow cuts in a checkerboard pattern on one cut surface of each disk.
8. With a toothpick, prick the entire surface of the other cut surface.
9. In a skillet, heat 2 inches of vegetable oil to 340 degrees F. Fry the eggplant over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cut surfaces are golden and the eggplant is cooked through.
10. Drain the eggplant on a paper towel.
11. (As an alternative to deep-frying the eggplant, you can rub it with 1/3 cup oil and bake it at 375 degrees F until it is soft and golden.)
12. Serve the eggplant hot, topped with the miso sauce and garnished with the sesame seeds and shiso.

mamemiso, mirin, sake, sugar, scallion, sesame oil, kamonasu, white sesame seeds, vegetable oil, shiso leaves

Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/eggplant-disks-with-miso-sauce (may not work)