As winter and the festivals knock at the door, I have a recipe for another seasonal delicacy. Along with roasted cauliflower, eggplant parmesan is another dish that can make your winter special.
This is a vegetarian delicacy. However, if your meal feels incomplete without chicken, I also have a recipe for you here.
So, let’s find out how fried eggplants, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and some spices can create magic in your kitchen.
How To Make Eggplant Parmesan?
Cooking And Preparation Time: 1 Hour
Eggplant Parmesan Calories: 495 Calories Per Serving
If you love Italian flavors and you are looking for some comfort food this winter, it has to be eggplant parmesan. Further, you don’t need to search for a restaurant with “eggplant parmesan near me” as you can easily make the gluten-free delicacy at home.
Here, I am sharing the ingredient list for making the savory recipe for two people.
- Eggplant – 1 (Medium to Large Size)
- Onion – 1 (Medium Size, Finely Sliced)
- 2 Large Tomatoes (Finely Chopped)
- 4 Cloves of Garlic (Finely Chopped)
- 50 Grams Of Vegetarian Parmesan Cheese
- Salt And Pepper: To Taste
- Oregano And Basil: ½ Teaspoon Each
- Sunflower Oil: 4 Tablespoons
- Olive Oil: 1 Tablespoon
- Red Wine: 1 Teaspoon (Optional)
Eggplant Parmesan Recipe For You
- First, preheat the oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit, and meanwhile, cut the eggplant into slices that are 3-4 mm in width.
- Now, apply salt evenly on the slices and keep them aside. Once the slices are kept in this way for around 15-20 minutes, the eggplant slices will start releasing water.
- At this stage, rinse the slices well, and make them completely dry using a kitchen towel.
- Now, heat 4 tablespoons of oil in the pan and fry the eggplant slices until they become golden brown in color.
- In the same pan, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fry the onion slices until caramelized. Now, add chopped garlic, and after a while, add chopped tomatoes. Mix them well with salt, pepper, red wine, basil and oregano. Your sauce is ready!
- Now, take a baking pan and grease it well with oil.
- You will have to make the recipe in layers.
- For the first layer, spread the tomato sauce in the baking pan, and then arrange a few slices of the fried eggplant.
- Now, sprinkle some grated vegetarian parmesan cheese and pour the remaining sauce.
- Again, make a layer of fried eggplant slices and finish the arrangement with cheese.
- That’s it! Your egg parmesan will be ready in 8-10 minutes.
Expert Tip
- You have to rub the salt on the brinjal slices and keep them like this for around 10-15 minutes. Otherwise, the slices may taste bitter.
- Further, keep the heat of the oil medium-high while frying the eggplants. Otherwise, the slices will absorb a lot of oil.
- Once the eggplant slices are fried, don’t forget to keep them on kitchen towels which will absorb the extra oil.
How To Make Chicken Eggplant Parmesan?
As promised, here I am going to share an eggplant and parmesan recipe with chicken. The process of frying the eggplant slices and making the sauce will be similar. The main addition here is to get the chicken cutlets ready.
To make the chicken cutlets, you will need pounded and butterflied chicken breast. Marinate it with salt, pepper, and garlic. You can also add parsley and other herb slices for extra flavor.
Then, coat the cutlets with all-purpose dry flour. Dip the cutlets into an egg mix and coat them with seasoned breadcrumbs again.
Before frying the cutlets, make sure that they don’t have excess coating. If the coating is bulky and not precise, the cutlets will become soggy when baked.
If you are using chicken slices for your egg parmesan recipe, you also need to introduce some changes in the way you arrange the baking pan.
Above the first layer of the tomato sauce (recipe shared in the previous section), you will place the chicken cutlets, and then you will arrange the fried eggplant slices. Finally, you will need to sprinkle parmesan cheese and bake the dish in the same way.
How To Make Vegan Eggplant Parmesan?
The preparation time and cooking style for vegan eggplant and parmesan almost remain the same as the original recipe. However, we definitely need to make some changes to some of the ingredients.
For example, you have to make sure that the parmesan cheese you use is vegan. Also, if you want to create the vegan version of the chicken eggplant parmesan, you will need some extra ingredients for making eggplant batter fries.
Nevertheless, to make the eggplant butterflies, you will first coat the sliced eggplants with dry flour. Now, dip the slices into unsweetened almond milk and coat them with cornstarch again before deep frying.
The remaining processes of arrangement and baking will be the same.
Do you want to elevate this cheesy vegan dish? You can mix it with pasta and serve as a complete meal.
How To Make Keto Eggplant Parmesan?
Are you on a keto diet, and you always need to have high protein content in what you have? Here is the keto parmesan eggplant recipe with chicken slices. To make the dish keto-friendly, we will have to make certain changes in the ingredients.
I am only sharing the changes or alternatives to the ingredients and processes used in the authentic eggplant parmesan recipe.
- Replace the all-purpose flour with coconut flour.
- Then, replace bread crumbs or cornstarch with pork rinds or almond flour.
- After coating the eggplant slices with coconut flour, eggs, and almond flour, bake them in the oven instead of deep frying. It will take around 30 minutes. So, the cooking time is going to be a little longer than usual.
- Use a fork to check whether the eggplant slices are cooked properly or not.
The remaining procedure to get the dish ready is similar to the authentic recipe.
Final Words
Eggplant parmesan is a healthy recipe from a rich collection of Italian recipes. It has the goodness of tomatoes, eggplants, and parmesan cheese. So, this delicacy is packed with micronutrients like vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B, magnesium, phosphorus, and protein.
You can make it more nutritious by adding eggs and chicken to the recipe. Further, the calorie count will go down if you bake the eggplant slices instead of frying them.
So, try these recipes at home and share how they were! Enjoy your meal!
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