Eggplant Yogurt Pomegranate Goodness

This was one of our last meals in the states, made at Caitlin's apartment in San Francisco. The recipe is from the cookbook, Plenty. Right now, I'm in the Pharmacy taking a little break.

We've been LOVING our time in Saigon so far. We work from 8-4:30 with lunch from 11-1:30 so it's a pretty good life. We do also work on Saturdays but we're volunteers and learning a new language so it's so much more fun than regular work. I had no foresight in coming here since I thought Nick and I would be alone all the time. I had forgotten that there are constantly volunteers coming in from Europe. Right now there's 2 French ladies, 1 lady from Switzerland, 2 dudes from Belgium, and Nick and meeee. So it's a fun group, and the staff and patients here do a great job of integrating us into the community (and it is a great community). If you want to know more about Maison Chance, look it up! It's a pretty amazing story.

Anyways we've been really busy just getting to know everyone over food (everything in Vietnam revolves around food). Then during our days off, we visit family. We have 10 days off for Tet and we're headed for the beach for 2 of those days. The most exciting thing that's happening is that Nick is learning to ride a motorcycle and we're going to illegally rent one for a month. Yesssssss. (Don't tell our parents)

You will need:

2 large eggplants
1/3 cup coconut oil
few sprigs thyme
1 pomegranate
za'atar

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
olive oil
garlic
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into the eggplant. Brush all of the oil over the cut sides until absorbed. Season with salt and pepper and thyme, then roast for 35-40 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile make the sauce. Mix the yogurt, some lemon juice (add to taste), a drizzle of olive oil, and 1 clove of minced garlic. Once the sauce is done, seed the pomegranate. Careful- it stains.
Take the eggplants out of the oven and generously spoon some sauce over the surface of the eggplant. Then sprinkle lots of za'atar and fresh thyme over the yogurt sauce. Then drop some handfuls of the pomegranate all over the place. Everything tastes wonderful together--enjoy!!