Korean Seasoned Eggplant

I made this tonight. You can use "american" red pepper if you don't have korean red pepper. Toasting the sesame seeds (if they are not already roasted) doesn't take much time and makes a big difference. I used two baby eggplants and did not peel the skin, but maybe next time I'll take a few strips of skin off. It's a tasty side dish and also does not mind being left to the side while I tend other dishes -- or a baby.

Prep + Cook time: 30 minutes, most of it chopping eggplant, onion, and garlic and waiting for eggplant to cool.

Ingredients:
about 1 lb of eggplant

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp chopped green onion

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 tsp red pepper flakes (korean red pepper if you've got it. "american" red pepper works too)

1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds (sometimes the ones in the asian market are already roasted. this is great, but you can also roast regular sesame seeds in a pan for about a minutes)

1 tbsp dark sesame oil

salt

Directions:
- cut eggplant into 1/2" by 1-2 " strips.

- put water in a pot. bring to a boil. add eggplant and steam until soft (about 3 minutes)

- let eggplant cool, then squeeze out moisture

- toss cooled, sqeezed eggplant with onion, garlic, red pepper, sesame seeds, oil, salt

Serve either room temperature or cool. Keeps in refrigerator 2-3 days.

Source: chung and samuels, "The Korean Table"
Servings: 4