Deeply poke the eggplant all over, on all sides, with a fork. 

Make sure your stove is clean. Turn a stove burner on to medium-high heat, and allow the burner grate to heat up for two minutes.

Grill the eggplants directly on the burner grate. If you use standard black eggplants in place of the Chinese eggplant, cook it over a medium flame instead, so that the insides cook thoroughly.

Using a pair of tongs, turn the eggplants every minute or so until the skin is all burnt and flaky, and the flesh is soft. It should take about 7 minutes until the eggplants are tender, and a bit deflated looking.

Transfer the eggplants to a wire rack or plate to cool for 10 minutes.

Once the eggplants are cool enough to handle, rub off the charred skin. If the skin is really hard to get off, you can also rub it off under cold running water.   Don’t freak out about getting every last flake of charred skin off.  Some spots may be harder to get off than it’s worth, and a little bit of the charred skin helps make the final dish smokey and delicious tasting.

Once the eggplant has been skinned, cut it into half-inch pieces.  Sometimes the meat near to the stem of the eggplant just doesn’t get tender.  Discard any tough-feeling eggplant rather than including it in the salad.

Cut the tomatoes, onions, and chilies.

Combine the cut veggies, including the eggplant with all remaining ingredients.

Chill the salad for at least one hour before serving, to chill it and to allow the flavors of the dressing to enter the veggies.