Eggplants Shōjin
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 2 medium sized eggplants (6-7 inch long)
  • 100 g flat green beans
  • 100 g fresh shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon Tamari
  • 1 tablespoon panela sugar
  • 1 piece of dried kombu seaweed (2 x 2 inch)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame paste (tahini)
  • 400 ml mineral water
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • Roasted sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. From cold water, without lid, cook the kombu seaweed in water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to minimum and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the seaweed and reserve for another preparation. Add mushrooms and cook over medium heat until tender. Reserve the broth and mushrooms separately.
  2. Wash well and remove the green stems from eggplants and green beans. Cut eggplants lengthwise in half. Repeat the cut to obtain four quarters of each eggplant. Cut the green beans at an angle into 3-4 inch pieces. Cut each piece in half lengthwise.
  3. Place the vegetables in a steamer and cook for 10 minutes or until you can cleanly prick them with a skewer.
  4. In a flat pan mix the reserved broth with sugar, tamari and salt. Bring to a boil, add eggplants and mushrooms and cook over low heat for five minutes. Take out a laddle of cooking liquid and mix it with the tablespoon of tahini. When it is well dissolved, add it to the pan with gentle movements not to break the aubergines. Place green beans on top, turn off the heat and cover to keep it evenly warm.
  5. Plate, glaze vegetables with the cooking sauce and decorate with roasted sesame seeds.
Culinary Tips
The size of the eggplant pieces is very important (see the photo). If the eggplants are long or very large, cut them in half or make eight pieces of each.

Texture of each vegetable is key in this dish. Check the texture after 7-8 minutes and remove teggplants if they are nearly done. In the same way, leave the beans a little more than the approximate 10 minutes if they are still hard.
Recipe by The Quotidian Cook at https://www.thequotidiancook.com/en/eggplant-shojin/