Spiced Seared Eggplant With Pearl Couscous

Can this be cooked ahead and reheated?

I thought the flavors were excellent but I struggle with my eggplant absorbing to much oil when I cook it so I decided to roast it until slightly tender in the oven with a little olive oil and salt and pepper first and then added it to the onion mixture to finish cooking . I reduced the oil slightly with the onions and it came out delicious.

Made recipe verbatim and it’s quite good. I’d been worried about that much cinnamon, but it all comes together nicely in the end. Next time I’ll add more eggplant; seems like you could add a cup, or even two.

Simply delicious! I added another cup of eggplant and adjusted the seasonings accordingly, and it was amazing. I’ll definitely make this again.

Yummy, but agree with other opinions about adding more eggplant and liquid. I used 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock and about 4 cups of eggplant. I roasted the eggplant to cut down on the oil. With these minor modifications the dish came out great.

Good, not great. Definitely easier mid-week type meal. Since so many commentators said there wasn’t enough eggplant, and the couscous needed more liquid, I reverse-engineered, and just cut back on the couscous to 1cup. That worked perfectly—plenty of eggplant, and the couscous was cooked through.

Also added extra eggplant! The yogurt is a must - I added some lemon zest to the yogurt which was delicious.

Next time I would use twice as much eggplant and maybe another veggie. Too hot for us, less heat next time.

Took advice of others and roasted unpeeled cubes of 3 Italian eggplants (~1-1/2") at 400 degrees x 30 min on 2 parchment-lined sheet pans with one toss halfway through while prepping aromatics. Added eggplant after onions softened. Used chicken broth instead of water; smoked chipotle powder instead of cayenne. Added 1/4 t ras el hanout to spice mix; 2 dashes of liquid smoke with paprika/parsley stir-in at end (should have doubled smoked pap -- we like smokey)! A hit, will definitely make again.

delicious! I substituted a can of drained, rinsed garbanzos for the couscous and homemade tomato sauce for the paste and tomato called for. Doubled the cumin and added 1/2 t more cinnamon. It reminded me of a dish we had at the Peak Cafe in Hong Kong so I've renamed it Peak Cafe Special 😃

Used vegetable broth instead of water. Topped with yogurt and sliced avocados. Yum.

I made it with whole wheat pearl couscous because that is what we had. The I used a medium-sized eggplant (~3c.) and added a zucchini I had lying around, but did not change the spices. The amount of vegetables was perfect this way! whole wheat flavor definitely came through, so if you don't like that, stick with regular. It needed an extra couple minutes to absorb the water. Served with plain Greek yogurt as suggested. The yogurt MADE the dish. Don't skip it!

Made with ~5 cups eggplant and added spinach at the very end. Tasty. Needs the yogurt and some lemon at the end to add acid.

Would it be a sin to add 1/2 lb of ground lamb to this dish?

Following suggestions, I doubled the eggplant, roasted it and upped the tomato and spices by about 50%, also using a large onion and more garlic. I don't get the concern with cinnamon--my experience is that it becomes rather subtle in cooking (as opposed to baking). If anything seemed a little too much, it was the cumin. I used a large cast iron pot--can't imagine toasting the couscous in anything smaller and actually it was difficult to get uniform browning. Cumin aside, it was delicious.