This classic recipe is found throughout Georgia as part of the vegetable starters for a supra, but they’re great with drinks before dinner too. Small eggplants are sliced lengthwise, salted, rinsed, and lightly fried, before being spread with garlicy walnut paste and rolled up. Make the walnut paste while the eggplants are being salted. The main reason to salt them is to reduce the amount of oil they absorb during frying; the bitterness has been bred out of most eggplants nowadays.
(Adapted from Tasting Georgia; A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus by Carla Capalbo)