Hi from HI, and also: eggplant with tangy chickpeas

Welp. I live in Honolulu now. So that happened. 

Google maps is under the impression that I'm here.

A place I was several hours ago.

This same place, farther up the ridge, where I saw the entire island end to end and clouds landed on my head.

So now that I live here you can expect a lot of 1) Asian eggplant piles from restaurants and 2) Mediterranean eggplant piles from my kitchen as I page hungrily through Ottolenghi.

Also, I have a new kitchen! NOW: with brighter lights!

Aubergenius's new hub.

I couldn't resist buying these adorbsable finger-sized eggplants at the Japanese grocery:

Just recently I discovered a strange velvety ball-on-legs. It emits the oddest sounds.

I wanted to channel my inner Ottolenghi but had no energy left to shop at the store, so I improvised something out of my cabinets instead. It was delicious in every way except that it needed some fresh herbs on top. I suggest a handful of parsley and mint ground up in the yogurt sauce and chopped on top. My creation layers:

-roasted eggplants
-rice (because half the food on this island is rice)
-flavorblasted chickpea wowbombs
-yogurt sauce

Flavorpacked tastytreat chickpea eggplant layer thing with tangy yums

Ingredients
cute little eggplants, halved
1 can chickpeas
brown rice [ideally long-grain or wild rice, which works better than the sticky short-grain pictured here]
greek yogurt
3-4 cloves garlic
whole cumin seeds
smoked paprika
smoked sea salt (if you have it)
crushed aleppo chile powder
black pepper
olive oil
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
mint, parsley

Method
Get started cooking your rice according to your favorite method.

Halve the eggplants, coat with plenty of olive oil, and roast on a baking sheet at 380 degrees for 15-20 minutes until soft. Sprinkle with smoked salt and pepper, then roast face-down to get a nice color on the top.

While eggplants are baking, make the chickpeas. Slice garlic and sauté on medium-low heat with olive oil and cumin seed until golden.

Watch closely, don't let it burn. Also, this immediately makes your kitchen smell awesome.

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Add these to the pan together with a pinch of aleppo chiles, smoked paprika, black pepper, and a pinch of smoky salt. Add two generous squeezes of lemon juice, plus some grated lemon zest. Fry briefly until chickpeas are coated with spices and oily/dry on the outside. They should burst with flavor, and if not, add a little more salt and lemon.

Meanwhile...

This beautiful sight.

Whisk greek yogurt with water, lemon juice, a dash of salt, black pepper, and fresh herbs if you have them. (Here I used dried mint, not nearly as good.) The sauce should be drizzling consistency. Arrange your roasted eggplants on a platter, layer with rice and a generous serving of chickpeas, and drizzle with sauce.

The H.M.S. Aubergine docks at Craigslistjug Harbor.