I saw some beautiful deep purple Chinese eggplants in the market and for some reason, I bought them. I never eat or make eggplant so I'm not sure what I was thinking. So I cooked them and somehow they ended up tasting really delicious, which was a bit of a pleasant surprise! One guest remarked that he didn't like eggplant but was loving this eggplant, and I felt much the same. So, I present this as an example of when common sense experimentation goes well in the kitchen, so you might be encouraged to experiment yourself!





Roasted Eggplant
I imagine you could use regular eggplants but as I've already established this is not exactly my bailiwick so I can't really advise you on that.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 Chinese eggplants
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• olive oil to taste
• about 1 Tblsp garam masala or cumin
• salt

Method:

• Cut eggplants into slices that are about 3/4 inch thick and spread out on baking sheet in one layer (I put parchment on mine.) Sprinkle liberally with salt and set aside. They will turn a little brown and look a little sweaty.
• After about 10-15 minutes, turn broiler on high. Sprinkle lemon juice and garam masala over eggplants, and drizzle with olive oil. Put in broiler for about 10 minutes.
• Turn off broiler and put oven to 350. Drizzle more oil over eggplant and cook about 15 more minutes, until cooked through and a bit shrivelled. When in doubt, drizzle more oil on them. They can take it.
  
• Toss with zest and drizzle with more oil, and add salt if needed. Serve immediately.