[Soft-Simmered Eggplant] Melt-in-your-mouth, flavor-soaked bliss♪

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1. Remove the stems from the eggplants, cut them in half, score the skin, and soak in salt water (use a ratio of 1 teaspoon of salt per 1 cup of water).

2. Put the eggplant and sesame oil in a frying pan, coat them thoroughly, arrange them skin-side down, cover, and steam-fry. (3 minutes)

3. Remove the lid, flip them over, add the seasoning A, then cover and heat again (3 minutes).

4. Turn off the heat and let it sit as is (3 minutes).

5. Mix in the bonito flakes.

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・It's delicious freshly made, but also great chilled.
・Can be stored in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
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<Check out the video for how to make it!>

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It's the delicious season for eggplant.

When it comes to delicious ways to eat eggplant,
grilled eggplant is the first thing that comes to mind,
but soft-simmered eggplant, soaked with flavor, is also a must-have.
It's hard to choose between the two...

Grilling is good, but simmering is also delicious~~♪

But when you say simmered dishes,
you might think it's a hassle,
or you might not want to do it because the kitchen gets hot during this hot season.

No, no, no,
that's where the Okuzono style comes in!!

3 minutes of simmering!!
It becomes melt-in-your-mouth soft in a short time.
Really.

There are two points.

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1. Make grilled eggplant first, then simmer it
2. Residual heat cooking
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1. Grill the eggplant before simmering

Since it's a simmered dish,
you might think it's fine to just simmer it in broth right away,
but for eggplant,
simmering it after letting it absorb oil
makes it taste significantly better.

This is because
eggplant is over 90% water,
so if you simmer it as is, it becomes watery and hard to flavor,
but adding the richness of oil makes it much more delicious.

There is a traditional cooking method called 'Holland-style simmering' (Oranda-ni),
which involves deep-frying the eggplant before simmering it,
and that is a piece of traditional wisdom.

However, deep-frying it first
is a lot of work,
so I decided on a method of grilling the eggplant before simmering it.

With the Okuzono-style grilled eggplant,
you only use a little bit of oil, but it adds plenty of richness,
and the heating time is only 3 minutes!!

This way, it's not a hassle at all.

2. Residual heat cooking

Flavors soak in as things cool down,
so residual heat cooking, where you turn off the heat and let the flavors absorb,
is very logical.

But that's not all.

Because you turn off the heat,
the broth doesn't boil down,
making it very easy to season the broth.

With regular simmered dishes,
the broth boils down while you simmer it over low heat,
so the initial flavor and the final flavor can be completely different,
which I think is where the difficulty of simmered dishes lies.

In the case of residual heat cooking,
the broth doesn't boil down,
so the flavor you decide on at the beginning is exactly how it turns out.

Therefore, if you season the broth to your liking at the start
(the level of saltiness you find delicious when you taste it),
that flavor will soak into the eggplant just like that.

See, it's easy♪
Residual heat cooking is just the best♪

So,
once you can make Okuzono-style grilled eggplant,
you can automatically make delicious soft-simmered eggplant.

Grilled eggplant and soft-simmered eggplant are two sides of the same coin.
If you master these two eggplant dishes,
you can eat eggplant endlessly. Seriously.

Plus!!
If you store the soft-simmered version in the refrigerator and serve it cold,
it becomes an absolute treat.

So, please, by all means, give it a try.

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Here's another way to eat it!!

<Topped with plenty of aromatics>
It's fun to add various things like
myoga ginger, green shiso, or grated ginger.

<Eggplant Somen>
Use chilled soft-simmered eggplant as a topping for somen noodles♪

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Check these out too!!

Okuzono-style Grilled Eggplant ←Click

Eggplant and Pork Somen Noodles

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Be sure to read these as well↓↓↓↓
■[The story behind Okuzono-style Grilled Eggplant]

■　Simmered dishes are perfect for busy times. I've summarized the tips for making them easily and deliciously.

■　Just toss in the bonito flakes—this is how the Okuzono style was born.

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■　Return to the table of contents to see other recipes

It's unbelievably easy,
yet it turns out truly melt-in-your-mouth and soaked with flavor.

It's great piping hot right after cooking,
but it's also delicious served chilled!!

If you've ever made Okuzono-style Grilled Eggplant,
since this is a variation of that,
you'll be able to make it perfectly.

Please, definitely give it a try.