This eggplant parmigiana is a recipe adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks, The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Dr Catherine Itsiopoulos. This dish is flavorful and very satisfying whether you follow a plant-based diet, enjoy having one or two vegetarian days a week like me or just every now and then. Dr Catherine likes to add a layer of sliced potato underneath the eggplant to help absorb the sauce and make the dish more filling. I have made it with and without potatoes. If adding potatoes, I suggest slicing it and boiling until tender but firm before assembling.
Eggplant parmigiana
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large eggplant sliced (skin on)
- unrefined sea salt
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 cups 1-2 cups grated mozzarella or 4 cheese blend (Mozzarella, Cheddar, Romano and parmesan)*
- 2-3 cups tomato salsa
- 1 1 brown or red onion diced
- 1 large clove of garlic peeled and crushed or minced
- 2 cups tomato purée or 1 can of diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- pinch of unrefined sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Handful of fresh herbs of choice chopped: basil, parsley or coriander
Instructions
- Turn on oven on 180C to preheat while eggplant and salsa are prepared.
- Slice eggplant lengthways about 1 cm thick, sprinkle some sea salt on both sides. Specially where the seeds are. Allow the salted eggplant slices to rest in a colander for 20 minutes to remove the bitterness. While the eggplant is resting, the salsa can be prepared.
- Add a dash of olive oil to a small sauce pan over medium heat. Once pan is hot, add minced garlic and diced onions and cooked stirring until onion is translucent. Then add cumin, turmeric, some freshly ground black pepper, water and tomato purée.
- Reduce to low heat and cook the salsa for 5 to 8 minutes, season with salt. Turn off heat, add the herbs and set aside.
- Rinse the salted eggplant and pat dry with paper towel.
- Bring a frypan to medium heat. Add a generous amount of olive oil and fry the eggplant until soft but tender, not brown.
- Grease a baking dish with olive oil and place the sliced eggplant side by side. Spread the salsa over eggplants, then grated mozzarella or cheese blend.;Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
- Sugestion: serve with a mixed leaves salad with tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, olives, capsicum, onion rings and a balsamic and olive oil dressing
Notes
You can use jarred pasta sauce, but the flavour of homemade sauce cannot be compared.
