Fast Eggplant with Miso

I was in such a hurry to eat I didn't get a photo!
This is a picture of an eggplant I grew, though
not the one from the container. Use what you've got.

One day this week, it must have been before we picked up our weekly share of vegetables, food supplies were down to green peppers, hot peppers and onions.  Then, on a trip to and fro my second story apartment I passed our containers lining the stairs.With only a shady piece of land available to us on the ground, earlier this summer we opted to plant some tomatoes, peppers and you guesed it, eggplant to grow in containers (10gallon buckets) on our sunny staircase.  I harvested what must have been the third eggplant of the season from this container, and woola, suddenly I knew what was for dinner!  Container gardens aren't necessarily the most productive way of growing food, especially if you take the extreme low-maintenance route like I do, but when they do fruit, my is it fantastic!

This recipe is so tasty that...

1. I've made it more than once (It's not often that I go back to stir-fry type dishes and actually measure ingredients) 

2. Even people who claim not to like eggplant say they like this.

All the sauce ingredients can be found at an Asian grocery store (New Market if you are an Athenian), or perhaps even your grocery store's 'ethnic food' isle. 

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

This recipe is from the book Japanese by Lulu Grimes
 I like to double the sauce, especially if I use a lot of veggies.

2 eggplants (or one eggplant and other veggies you like)
1 fresh red chili, sliced (I had hot peppers so that is what I used.  If I was out of those I would have used dried thai hot peppers.)
2 TBSP sake
4 TBSP mirin
2 TBSP shoyu (or another favorite soy sauce that doesn't have wheat like Bragg's Liquid Aminos )
3 TBSP hatcho miso (not sure what hatcho miso is, I used a red/dark miso paste)

Directions
1. Peel eggplant if desired, especially if you aren't using the long, skinny type of eggplant. Cut into bite-size pieces.
2. In a small bowl, heat the water and combine warm, not burning hot, water with miso. Stir until dissolved.  Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Preheat a wok over high heat - here in southeast Ohio a cast iron pan works just as well.  SERIOUSLY.  Pre-heat you pan, this is not a step you want to skip.
4. Add a little sesame, peanut, or olive oil and heat until it is very hot.
5. Add eggplant in BATCHES to the hot pan and cook about 4 minutes or until done.  Avoid overcrowding the pan in this step, as it will slow the cooking of the eggplant and change its texture.
6.  Return all veggies and hot chili to hot pan. Add sauce, stir, and cook until sauce thickens to desired consistency. 
7. Serve over rice, rice noodles or as a side dish.