This weeknight noodle dish uses gochujang, miso, and tomato paste for deep flavor in no time. Long, slender Japanese and Chinese eggplant cook faster and get more tender than their globe-shaped cousins.
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What you’ll need
Large Pot
$55 $48 At Amazon
Colander
$11 At Amazon
Large Nonstick Skillet
$50 At Amazon
Deal: Silicone and Stainless-Steel Tongs (2 Pack)
$17 $14 At Amazon
Recipe information
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
12
3
1
6
1½
6
1
2
2
3
¼
Preparation
Step 1
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a simmer. Remove pot from heat and stir in noodles. Let soak, stirring often, until very al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup noodle cooking liquid. Rinse noodles under cold running water.
Step 2
Mix gochujang and miso in a small bowl, gradually adding 1½ cups warm water, until smooth.
Step 3
Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high. Add eggplant and drizzle with another 2 Tbsp. oil; season lightly with salt. Cook, undisturbed, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Toss; continue to cook, tossing occasionally, until most of eggplant are golden and nearly tender, about 5 minutes more. Transfer eggplant to a plate.
Step 4
Reduce heat to medium and add remaining 1 Tbsp. oil to skillet. Cook garlic and ginger, stirring often, until golden, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until slightly darkened, about 1 minute. Stir in gochujang mixture and return eggplant to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplant are nearly falling apart, 6–8 minutes.
Step 5
Add noodles, butter, and ½ cup reserved noodle cooking liquid to skillet. Cook, tossing often and adding more cooking liquid as needed, until sauce is glossy, about 2 minutes; season with salt.
Step 6
Serve noodles topped with scallions and peanuts.
Leave a Review
Reviews (74)
Back to TopI have this on heavy rotation, it's delicious! My tweaks... double the quantity of sauce and use just one cup of water in it (instead of 1 1/2 ad suggested) and add a squeeze of lime. You don't really need the butter either.
Megan
London
9/24/2023
The flavor of sauce was quite bland as is. I would try to cook this again but next time by adding fish sauce, tahini and sugar to deepen the flavor.
Lo
Los Angeles
8/4/2022
Flavor not very good. Fair amount of work. Disappointed by this recipe. It is missing something.
Anonymous
1/19/2022
I would really like to try this recipe. I live in Panama and Chinese/Japanese eggplant are pretty hard to come by. Has anyone made this with the domestic variety? We have lots of the here and they are generally on the smaller side. Thanks
Ken
Panama
1/18/2022
With a few minor mods, this was perfect! As per other reviewers, I added black vinegar and soy sauce (omitting miso for all the sodium). The water used with the gochujang was the noodle water, hence little needed later on. 60% of the noodles used, aubergines were roasted in advance for convenience. Not bland at all! I love spicy food, and this was max yet balanced. Squeeze of lime to serve. YUM! Also, adding in extra veg (if you wish) such as bell peppers, peas, and/or mushrooms were all happily received.
Niki
Calgary, AB
11/27/2021
Hard pass on a do over. With all the gochujang one would think the result would be spicy. Instead, I ended up with a soggy pile of mushy, watery noodles that had little more taste than spicy pasta sauce. The eggplant gets completely lost, so ignore the photo. If this is supposed to be a quick weekday meal, I shouldn’t have to “doctor” an entire recipe to enjoy it.
JenaCass
Dallas
10/26/2021
I thought this was great with some easy tweaks and will be going in my easy weeknight rotation. I would definitely use Chinese or Japanese eggplant if you don't want it to turn to mush like Italian eggplants do. Miso also varies a lot in strength so add more if you know yours is lighter in flavor. I also added 2 Tbsp each of soy sauce and chinkiang vinegar per the suggestions, and left out the extra noodle water at the end. I used an entire bunch of scallions and cooked the whites with the ginger and kept the greens out for a fresh garnish at the end.
Anonymous
Berkeley, CA
9/17/2021