Eggplant Sauté with Pineapple and Tomato

I finally decided to explore the massive grocery store near my apartment and ended up super enticed by:
– a pineapple
– Japanese eggplants
Awesome. Now what?

Google didn’t give many options (which is often a clue that this is not a popular flavor combination, but don’t be discouraged!) There was To Food with Love’s Clay Pot Eggplant with Pork and Pineapple Gravy which looked AWESOME, but a little too involved for my hunger level (if anyone tries it, let me know!) And then there was Spark Recipes’ Eggplant and Pineapple which looked so simple (The recipe calls for eggplant, pineapple, tomato, and olive oil, all sautéed together with no additional instructions) that I was justifiably skeptical… But I decided to try it anyway!

I cubed the eggplant and the pineapple and sautéed them in olive oil first before adding the tomato (I didn’t want the tomato to totally disintegrate). I also added in red onion, salt, pepper, paprika, and garnished the whole thing with cilantro.

The result was ok, but I think with a few tweaks it would be way better:
– First of all, the ratio of eggplant to everything else was off – there should be way more eggplant, and especially the pineapple should be for flavor, not a main ingredient! The flavor combination was actually pretty good, but the pineapple totally overpowered.
– Second, seasoning is definitely where my amateur cook status is a detriment, and I didn’t have anyone around so I could be like, “It needs something – what does it need??” I think the addition of the spices I chose and the onion and cilantro was good and really helped, but I bet someone who knew what they were doing could figure out a way to make it great. Suggestions, anyone??