Main Dishes
Tea-smoked lamb chops, with miso grilled aubergine
Tea-smoked lamb chops, with miso grilled aubergine (nasu dengaku) and pickled daikon. A restaurant-style feast of Japanese ingredients and flavours.
Ingredients
- 8 lamb chops
For the BBQ marinade
- ½ red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- small handful fresh coriander leaves and roots
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2cm/1in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 long red chilli, roughly chopped
- 20g/¾oz sea salt
For the den miso
- 200g/7oz brown miso paste
- 110g/4oz caster sugar
- 75ml/2½fl oz sake
- 75ml/2½fl oz mirin
For the miso grilled aubergine
- 1 large plump dark purple aubergine, peeled and cut into large chunks
- vegetable oil, for deep frying
- 50g/1¾oz whole sugared walnuts, roughly chopped
- few pinches of white Japanese sesame seeds
- small pinch of sansho pepper
For the pickled daikon
- 1 daikon, peeled and thinly sliced the
- 200ml/7fl oz rice vinegar
- 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
- small piece of kombu
- generous pinch of salt
- 2 yuzu (or limes), zest only
For the spicy Korean miso
- 100g/3½oz gochujang (Korean pepper paste)
- 4 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sake
- 15g/½oz caster sugar
- 10g/1/3g white miso paste
- 1 egg yolk
For the smoking mix
- 250g/9oz fine smoking chips
- 125g/4½oz sencha green tea powder
- 85g/3oz raw rice
To serve
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
- handful of mizuna leaves
Method
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For the BBQ marinade, place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place the chops in a glass bowl and pour over the marinade and set aside in the fridge for at least for two hours.
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For the den miso, place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk. Add to a hot frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
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For the miso grilled aubergine, heat a deep-fat fryer, or fill a large, deep, heavy-based pan two-thirds full with vegetable oil. Heat the oil to 180C/350F (use a probe thermometer to check the temperature if you’re not using a deep-fat fryer).
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Preheat the grill to high.
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Place the aubergine chunks into the deep fat fryer and cook for about two minutes until golden-brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
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Coat each piece with a generous dollop of den miso sauce.
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Place under the grill for 1-2 minutes.
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For the pickled daikon, place the daikon in a glass bowl.
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Place heat all the other ingredients in a saucepan to melt the sugar and salt.
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Pour the liquid over the daikon and allow to cool. Refrigerate for an hour and then it’s ready to use.
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For the spicy Korean miso, whisk together all the ingredients except from the egg yolk and cook gently in a saucepan over a very low heat for 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolk. Allow to cool before using.
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For the smoking mix and BBQ lamb chops, wipe the marinade off the lamb chops.
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Heat a wok and add the wood chips. Once smoking add the rice, heat through and then add the green tea.
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Place a rack on top and place the lamb on the rack, cover and smoke for two minutes on each side. Remove the lamb and set aside to cool.
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Rub the lamb chops with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
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Heat a large char grill and cook the lamb for 2-3 minutes each side depending on the thickness of the chop, or until just pink in the middle. Place the cut lime on the griddle too while cooking the lamb.
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To serve, arrange the aubergine on a serving plate.
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Top with the walnuts, sesame seeds and a light sprinkling of the sansho pepper and a small wedge of lemon.
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Serve a mound of pickled daikon on a separate plate with the lamb chops sprinkled with chives and topped with mizuna.
Tea-smoked lamb chops, with miso grilled aubergine (nasu dengaku) and pickled daikon.