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Sauce recipe

Dengaku-Style Miso Glaze

Sweet, salty miso paste for brushing on eggplant, tofu and fish before they go under the grill.

Dengaku-Style Miso Glaze
The ratio
  • 2 partsMiso
  • 1 partMirin
  • 1 partSake
  • 1 partSugar
What you need
  • 4 tbsp miso (white, red or a mix)
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp sake
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, to finish
Makes
About 150ml
Ready in
10
Keeps
3 weeks in the fridge
How to make it
  1. Put the miso, mirin, sake and sugar in a small saucepan and whisk until smooth.
  2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until glossy and about as thick as peanut butter. Do not let it boil hard or it will catch.
  3. Cool slightly. It thickens more as it sits.
  4. Spread a thin layer over grilled eggplant, tofu, salmon or chicken and put it under a hot grill for 1-2 minutes until it bubbles and browns at the edges. Finish with sesame seeds.
About this sauce

Dengaku is the Japanese way of grilling vegetables, tofu or fish with a thick sweet miso glaze. The glaze is just miso loosened with mirin, sake and sugar, cooked for a few minutes until glossy so it browns and blisters rather than burns.

Red miso gives a deeper, saltier glaze; white miso is sweeter and milder. Make a jar and you have a five-minute dinner sitting in the fridge.

What to put it on

Eggplant, firm tofu, salmon, mackerel, chicken wings, corn, mushrooms and onigiri.

It is the glaze on nasu dengaku and close to the one on miso-glazed salmon. Try it on yaki onigiri too. Not sure which miso to buy? Read our miso guide.

Uses this sauce

Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.

Pairs well with

Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.