Japanese Teriyaki Recipe: Mince meat and aubergine in a teriyaki sauce

There are many variations of teriyaki sauce. This is a nice recipe to start off with and then you can adjust the proportions of the basic ingredients for the teriyaki sauce (soya sauce, mirin, sake and sugar) to adapt to your personal taste. 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large garlic cloves (finely chopped)

2 inches ginger root (finely chopped)

1 lb mince meat

2 large aubergine (cut into large square pieces)

8 tbsp soya sauce

4 tbsp mirin

4 tbsp sake

3 tsp caster sugar

Pickled ginger to garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute or so (do not brown the garlic and ginger).
3. Add the minced meat and stir using a wooden spoon to help break up the mince meat. Let it cook until the meat is nearly cooked (do not cook the meat fully or it may become dry).
4. Add the aubergine pieces and stir into the mince meat using the wooden spoon.
5. Mix the soya sauce, mirin, sake and caster sugar in a small bowl. 
6. Pour the mixture over the mince meat and aubergine and stir well cooking under high heat for a few minutes, then let it simmer until the aubergines are nice and tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

How to eat:
Serve with a bowl of Japanese white rice. Sometimes I serve this dish with iceberg lettuce leaves (eat it like a wrap). This is not a traditional Japanese way of eating this dish but I find it handy if I don't have time to prepare rice or if I just fancy a change!

Tips:

1. Add less sugar if you prefer the dish less sweet
2. If you have time you could soak the aubergine pieces in a bowl of water before adding to the dish to get rid of the bitterness of the aubergine. 

Why not:

Try adding other vegetables that go really well with this teriyaki sauce. These include green peas, edamame (soya beans), carrots, mushrooms, broccoli etc.