A lot of people fall into a cooking comfort zone and perhaps you are one of them. If you have four or five staple meals you like to rotate and you make the same side dishes to accompany them, perhaps your cooking style is a habit rather than an adventure.
There is nothing wrong with making the same set of recipes for your family if they enjoy them but sometimes it can be nice to try something different to surprise them. International grilled vegetable recipes are one way to try out an unusual flavor while giving your family the nutritious vegetables you love them to have.
If you usually boil or microwave your vegetables you will be really amazed when you taste grilled vegetables and discover how juicy and full of flavor they can be. Using international herbs, spices or sauces adds another dimension to the flavor when you grill vegetables.
How to Grill Vegetables for a Side Dish
There are different ways to make grilled vegetables. You can grill whole vegetables with or without a marinade or spice rub. You can enclose chopped vegetables in an aluminum foil packet with butter, garlic and herbs or you can make vegetable kabobs which are often very colorful.
Any of these cooking methods is great for making either side dishes or entrees and if you are feeding vegetarians you might like to make extra portions of grilled vegetables to serve them.
Recipe for Chilled Japanese Style Grilled Eggplant
Grilled vegetable recipes are usually served hot but in Japan they are often known as "yakinasu" and served chilled. Your vegetables take on all the great things about being grilled, such as the enhanced flavor and the attractive grill marks if they are sliced, but chilling the vegetables after cooking them makes them a refreshing side dish for a hot day.
You can serve this grilled eggplant recipe as a side dish with any kind of meal. You do not necessarily have to serve them with an Asian meal.
Since they are chilled, you can also make them in advance and keep them in the refrigerator to serve a few hours after grilling them. The following recipes makes two servings, so feel free to double it. It is a very simple recipe but really tasty.
You can get dried bonito flakes from an Asian grocery store. Japanese eggplants are actually from China originally. They are small and round, as opposed to the Indian eggplants which can weigh up to two pounds. Use the smaller ones in this recipe.
What you will need:
4 Japanese eggplants
2 tablespoons dried bonito flakes
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
Soy sauce, as needed
How to make it:
Preheat the grill to medium hot and grill the eggplants until they are soft and the skins are very charred. Let them cool in water and remove the skins. Dry them with paper towels and take off the stems. Chill them in the refrigerator and serve them with the grated ginger and bonito flakes on top. Add a few drops of soy sauce to taste and serve.
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