Slow Cooked Eggplants with Chives, Thai Basil, and Sweet Ginger

I watched Top Chef DC yesterday, and I got inspired by the Cold War challenge. Contestants had to create cold dishes so I decided to try a cold dish myself with my Japanese eggplants for today’s lunch. I’m actually eating this right now as I type.

I prepped the eggplants by salting them first and letting them sit for about 30 minutes so that water let out. This created a meatier texture by taking out the water content in the eggplant. This also made sure that I would be slow cooking the eggplants instead of steaming/boiling them. I slow cooked the eggplants and zucchini’s in a little bit of oil until they were browned and soft.

Next, I mixed garlic chives with thai basil, ginger, and mirin (mirin is a sugary Japanese cooking wine.). I let them sit on medium heat until the mirin sugar started to brown slightly and the ginger got crispy.

You can grab the Somen noodles from most Asian markets. They cook almost instantly once put into a boiling pot of water. Rinse them afterwards with cold water, construct your plate, and drizzle a little sesame oil and soy sauce over it if you want!