Yakinasu – Grilled Japanese Eggplant
September 29, 2026
In this Recipe
Ingredients
Japanese Eggplant 2 medium
Fresh Ginger 1–2 tsp, finely grated
Soy Sauce 1–2 Tbsp
Katsuobushi (Shaved Bonito Flakes) 1 handful, about ¼ cup
Steps
- Soak the eggplant in the water 10-20 minutes before cooking so that eggplant absorb water to get soft and juicy. Pearce the eggplant in a few spots with a skewer so that the steam can be released when grilling. Score just the skin lengthwise in a few places so that it is easier to peal the skin after grilling.
- If you have a charcoal grill, grill the eggplant directly on burning red charcoal, rotate time to time till the whole skin get burned and the steam starts coming out from inside of the eggplant. If you don’t have a charcoal grill, doesn’t matter at all. You can grill the eggplant in the same way on the stove top burner.
- Peal the burnt skin off carefully with a tweezer, chop sticks, hands or any means. It helps if you do while it’s still hot, so that the nicely golden brown caramelized flesh under the skin remains.
- Grate the ginger finely. Place the eggplant on the plate and put the grated ginger on top. Pour one or two table spoon of Soy Sauce over. Put a handful of Katsuobushi ( Bonita flake ) on top of everything and eat it.If you can’t find Katsuobushi in Jopanese super market, you can replace that with lightly toasted and grinded Sesame seeds.
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