Najmieh Batmanglij shops at my local farmers market and upon occasion demonstrates recipes from her wonderful cookbooks. Her exploration of the Silk Road inspired a rice salad that she based on a Georgian rice pilaf. I wondered how well quinoa would work as an alternative grain. What I discovered in the case of this eggplant salad, it is far better to dress the vegetables than the warm grains, at least for the sake of texture. Modifications to her original recipe include the addition of pomegranate molasses since it works so well with eggplant in many Eastern Mediterranean dishes. If you think of it the night before, set a few stalks of celery in a jar of lime-infused water in the fridge and chop up the crisp results to add to your salad.

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