Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi 茄子の甘辛丼

Want an easy, one-pan meal that’s ready in 20 minutes? Try my delicious Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi with meaty eggplant seared until golden brown, coated in a sweet-salty sauce, and serve over hot rice. It’s a satisfying Japanese vegan rice bowl that deserves a spot at your table. {gluten-free adaptable}

What do you consider a quick meal? For me, anything cooks in one pot or one pan are most ideal. That’s why I often turn to Japanese rice bowls (donburi) when I need something fast and easy-to-assemble. Today’s recipe is Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi (茄子の甘辛丼), which is also plant-based. I could easily cook and eat this eggplant donburi over and over again!

What is Eggplant Donburi? A Luxurious Vegan Rice Bowl

Eggplant is undoubtedly the star ingredient of this rice bowl. Think of it as the tofu of the vegetable world. It’s mild and versatile, and can take on almost any flavor. What sets eggplant apart from other vegetables is its unique structural integrity contrasted with its silky, meaty, and utterly luxurious texture.

That said, it’s very important to cook it right. Here, searing the eggplant until nicely charred delivers the best, deepest flavor. It renders a buttery tender texture with a crispy edge that is hard to resist. When tossed with a quick sauce of mirin and soy sauce, it makes the most satisfying one-bowl comfort food with minimal effort.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Japanese or Chinese eggplants
• kosher salt – I use Diamond Crystal brand
• shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) – or use green onion/scallion
• ginger
• potato starch or cornstarch
• neutral oil
• mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine) – you can adjust the sweetness to taste
• soy sauce – for gluten-free, use GF soy sauce
• cooked Japanese short-grain rice – see how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe
• toasted white sesame seeds – for garnish

How to Make Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi

1. Slice the eggplants lengthwise. Sprinkle with salt and set aside, then wipe off the moisture with a paper towel.
2. Cut the shiso leaves into chiffonade strips and grate the ginger.
3. Coat with potato starch on both sides of the eggplant slices.
4. Cook the eggplant in a single layer in a frying pan over medium heat. Sear until the bottom is golden brown.
5. Flip over and cook the other side until golden brown. Reduce the heat.
6. Add the mirin, soy sauce, and grated ginger to the pan. Simmer and spoon over the eggplant.
7. Serve the rice in donburi bowls and place the soy-glazed eggplant on top. Garnish with sesame seeds and shiso.

3 Tips For Cooking the Eggplant

1. Keep the eggplant skin

Eggplant flesh gets tender and soft when it’s cooked through, and if you cook it for too long, the flesh gets mushy. Therefore, it’s very important to:

• Keep the eggplant skin attached to the flesh to maintain its shape.
• Cut the eggplant so the flesh is held by the skin.

For this purpose, I only recommend using Japanese, Chinese, or Italian eggplant. If you use American/globe eggplant, cut it into the wedges and use only the part that has skin (and use the middle part for other recipes).

2. Sprinkle salt

Eggplant has soft, spongy flesh with tiny air pockets that acts like a sponge that soaks up oil and liquids. While we like this vegetable to absorb all the good flavors, the challenge is to prevent it from becoming greasy.

The trick is to break down the air pockets and reduce the sponginess by salting the eggplant first. Salting also prevents the eggplant from discoloration. Just make sure to wipe off the excess moisture before frying.

3. Coat with potato starch/cornstarch

Coating the eggplant with potato starch (or cornstarch) can help:

• prevent the eggplant from soaking up all the oil.
• create a nice golden crust.
• absorb all the seasonings.
• thicken the sauce slightly.

Make sure to remove the excess potato starch and apply only a thin coating.

How to Serve Eggplant Donburi

I hope you give this Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi a try, especially if you’re an eggplant skeptic. This recipe will win you over! Serve this vegan rice bowl with miso soup and a side of pickle. Here are some of my suggestions:

• Vegan Miso Soup
• 4 Easy Soy Sauce Pickles

Other Delicious Vegan Dishes

• Vegan Poke Bowl
• Shiso Garlic Pasta
• Kenchinjiru
• Vegan Miso Soup

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Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi

4.69 from 232 votes

Want an easy, one-pan meal that's ready in 20 minutes? Try my delicious Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi with meaty eggplant seared until golden brown, coated in a sweet-salty sauce, and serve over hot rice. It's a satisfying Japanese vegan rice bowl that deserves a spot at your table. {gluten-free adaptable}

Print Pin

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 Japanese or Chinese eggplants (7 oz, 200 g; for a globe eggplant, cut into wedges or rounds with the skin on to hold its shape while cooking)
• ▢ ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (for salting the eggplant; plus more, if needed)
• ▢ 10 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) (or use 1 green onion)
• ▢ 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice; from 1-inch, 2.5-cm knob)
• ▢ 2 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch
• ▢ 4 Tbsp neutral oil (divided)

For the Seasonings

• ▢ 4 Tbsp mirin (a fairly close substitute is 4 tsp sugar + 4 Tbsp sake or water; adjust the sweetness to taste; read more about mirin)
• ▢ 2 Tbsp soy sauce (or use gluten-free soy sauce for GF)

For Serving

• ▢ 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (typically 1⅔ cups (250 g) per donburi serving)
• ▢ ½ tsp toasted white sesame seeds

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

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Instructions

 

• Before You Start: Gather all the ingredients. For the steamed rice, please note that 1½ cups (300 g, 2 rice cooker cups) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yield 4⅓ cups (660 g) of cooked rice, enough for 2 donburi servings (3⅓ cups, 500 g). See how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe.
  
• Slice 2 Japanese or Chinese eggplants lengthwise into ¼-inch slices. Then, sprinkle with ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Set aside for 15 minutes, then wipe off the moisture with a paper towel.
  
• Rinse 10 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut off and discard the stems.
  
• Roll up the shiso leaves and cut them into chiffonade strips.
  
• Peel the ginger skin and grate the ginger (I use a ceramic grater). Then, measure 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice) and set aside.
  
• Put 2 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch in a small tray. Then, thinly coat both sides of the eggplant slices with the potato starch.
  

To Cook

• Heat a frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add 2 Tbsp of the 4 Tbsp neutral oil and distribute it in the pan. Then, add the eggplant slices in a single layer. Cook until the bottom side is golden brown, about 3–4 minutes. Until then, do not touch the eggplants in order to achieve a nice sear.
  
• When the bottom side is nicely seared, drizzle another 2 Tbsp of the oil on top of the eggplant and flip the slices to cook the other side for an additional 3–4 minutes.
  
• Once the second side is cooked to a golden brown color, reduce the heat to medium low. Add 4 Tbsp mirin, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, and grated ginger.
  
• Bring it back to a simmer and spoon the sauce over the eggplant a few times. If the sauce thickens too fast (due to the potato starch), add 1 Tbsp water at a time to loosen it a bit. Remove from the heat when the eggplant is well-coated with the sauce.
  

To Serve

• In individual donburi bowls (a bit bigger than rice bowls), divide the 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice and drizzle some sauce on top of the rice.
  
• Then, place the eggplant slices on top. For presentation, I overlap each slice slightly. Garnish on top with ½ tsp toasted white sesame seeds and shiso leaves. Serve immediately.
  

To Store

• You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and keep them for 3 days in the refrigerator or for up to a month in the freezer.

Nutrition

Calories: 363 kcal · Carbohydrates: 17 g · Protein: 3 g · Fat: 29 g · Saturated Fat: 23 g · Sodium: 679 mg · Potassium: 341 mg · Fiber: 4 g · Sugar: 10 g · Vitamin A: 23 IU · Vitamin C: 3 mg · Calcium: 20 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: donburi, eggplant

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