Roasted Eggplant with Fried Onion & Chopped Lemon
According to J's request, I made the dish along with turnips and lamb cake. Its recipe was also from Jerusalem cookbook. The recipe called for one and a half green chili. I bought an Anaheim chili pepper for a mild heat. Also we replaced feta with Cotija cheese that was less salty and less sharp than feta. The recipe was simple: roast eggplant; sauté onions; mix chili, cumin, sumac, and cheese to the sautéed onion; place chopped fresh lemon flesh tossed with garlic on roasted eggplant; and spoon the onion mixture over the eggplant. Roasted eggplant was so tender that I could mix it with all toppings on the plate with a spoon. As the book described, "sharp, salty, and mildly sweet all intermingle here." That was almost true; in fact caramelized onion was rather pretty sweet, which made a very good contrast with sharp lemon/sumac and salty cheese. We loved the dish as well as turnip and lamb cake, and will definitely make both again!
