This was so good I had a hard time making it a single serving dish.  I allowed myself a couple more chopstickfuls of it while cleaning up though and put the rest away for my daughter.  Such sacrifices we parents make.

And it’s pretty quick; the eggplant will take about 30 minutes to roast but you can do everything else in that time.   The sauce is a simple combination of soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, chili-garlic sauce and either sake or vermouth.  Simmer briefly to dissolve the sugar. The soba noodles cook quickly and once they are drained (and don’t forget to reserve some of the cooking water!  Like I did!) it’s all tossed together with some chopped cilantro.

Despite lining a baking sheet with foil and oiling the foil (and tossing the eggplant bits in oil) the roasted eggplant stuck like mad to the foil. Not a huge problem but it killed me a little to leave all of that lovely caramelized eggplant behind.  I was also worried I would be eating eggplant laced with tin foil bits but I think I’m ok.  I also forgot the sesame seeds for garnish.  Still, I absolutely loved this and will make it again very soon (especially since an 8 oz. package of soba noodles allows enough to make this twice).