Eggplant Unagi Don

There's a tiny restaurant in Paris called Nodaiwa that does exactly one thing: eel. I stumbled onto it years ago, and it completely rearranged what I thought unagi don could be. Impossibly delicate yet ridiculously generous, with a kabayaki glaze somewhere between a teriyaki and something deeper and darker. I still think about that restaurant more often than is probably normal for someone who no longer lives in the same city.

Eel isn't exactly a Tuesday-night ingredient though, so when eggplant unagi kept popping up on my radar as a plant-based stand-in, I had to try it myself. It's a different animal entirely (sorry), but it's genuinely good in its own right, and a lot easier and cheaper to pull off at home.

Eggplant Unagi Don – About the dish

Unadon, a bowl of grilled eel lacquered in kabayaki sauce and served over rice, is one of Japan's great summer dishes, prized for how something so rich can still feel light. The technique lies almost entirely in the glaze: a simple simmered mix of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar, brushed on in thin layers and left to caramelize between each coat.

The eggplant version borrows that exact logic. Chinese eggplants are steamed until tender, then scored to mimic the flaky texture and diamond cuts of eel skin before getting the same char and glaze treatment. It's not trying to trick anyone into thinking it's eel, it's just borrowing everything great about the technique and letting eggplant take the lead.

Eggplant Unagi Don – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

• Chinese eggplants: Look for long, slim ones with taut, shiny skin, they hold their shape better once steamed and grilled.
• Potato starch: Dusted on before grilling, it helps the eggplant char and crisp up rather than turning soggy.
• Sake: Adds depth to the glaze without any real sweetness. A cheap cooking sake is perfectly fine here.
• Mirin: The gentle sweetness in the sauce. Don't swap in rice vinegar, it's a completely different job.
• Kombu dashi powder: Optional, but a small pinch rounds out the glaze with a savoury, umami backbone.
• Sugar: Balances the saltiness of the soy sauce and helps the glaze turn glossy and sticky as it reduces.
• Japanese soy sauce: The backbone of the sauce, a good one makes a real difference here.
• Japanese short grain rice: Cooked slightly on the stickier side, it holds the glaze better than long grain rice would.
• Sesame seeds and scallions: Both optional, but they add a welcome bit of crunch and freshness against all that glaze.

Recipe – Advice & key points

• Steam before you grill: Cutting the eggplant into chunks and steaming for about 15 minutes first is what makes it tender enough to fake that flaky eel texture later.
• Butterfly gently: Slice down the middle without cutting all the way through, then score shallow eel-like marks on both sides. Don't cut too deep, or the pieces will fall apart on the grill.
• Make the sauce separately: Simmering the kabayaki sauce in its own pan, rather than glazing straight over the eggplant, keeps you from overcooking it while you wait for the sauce to thicken.
• Dust lightly before grilling: A thin coat of potato starch is enough, too much and it turns gummy instead of crisp.
• Build the glaze in layers: Brush on the sauce, wait about 30 seconds, then flip and repeat. Two coats per side is usually enough to get a proper lacquered shine.
• Serve it right away: The glaze is at its best glossy, sticky and warm, straight off the grill and onto the rice.

This one's never going to replace an evening at Nodaiwa, but it scratches a very similar itch for a fraction of the effort and expense. Sticky, savoury-sweet, and a little smoky off the grill, it's proof that a good glaze can carry a dish just as much as what's underneath it.

Enjoy!