I just purchased like 8 pounds of Allsorts Licorice and am flying high. My dentist won’t be thrilled but my soul is satiated. (I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m certainly feeling hyperbolic today.) After a lunch break of ribs and Tindering with my bosses, I’m settling into a full afternoon of work and meetings, but a dear friend asked me to post the recipe of my Indian baby eggplant so here we are.

I made up this very simple recipe on Sunday after buying 30 pounds of produce at SuperKing and deciding to go veggie heavy this week for dinners. (Hence the ribs). We paired the meal with rice and stuffed sweet peppers as well as some heavy wine pours. Simple, fresh and satiating.

Roasted Indian Baby Eggplant with Lemon Garlic Butter and Mint

• 10 baby (Indian) eggplants, washed and cut in half
• Garam Masala
• Olive oil
• 3 minced cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• A lemon
• Springs of fresh mint
• Labneh (thick-strained  yogurt)

Preheat oven to 350.

Take halved baby eggplant and throw on cookie sheet. Coat with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with garam masala – like coat dat shit up! (Garam masala is an Indian spice blend with clove, cumin, coriander, peppercorn, cinnamon, etc). You can really use any spice blend you like, be it Italian, herbs de provence, or just salt and pepper. The garlic lemon butter would work with all of those, but you may want to hold off on the mint as not clash your flavor palettes.

Bake eggplant in oven for 20-25 mins until soft. Then broil until browned on top.

For the garlic butter: Melt butter in saucepan with minced butter on low for 10  mins or so until garlic is soft (aka cooked through so you’re not eating chunks of raw garlic.)

Plate eggplant, drizzle with garlic butter, spritz over lemon and top with fresh julienned mint and some dollops of labneh.

Boom. Delicious.

The blast broil at the end almost caramelizes the top of the eggplant with the spice mixture. Then you can break into it with your fork and garlic/lemon/butter sinks into the soft roasted bit and the freshness of labneh cuts through the richness. I served with lavash, but crispy pita chips would work well with a hearty side salad.