Baked Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

Eggplant is a dark purple colored, long, bitter vegetable which is used in many cuisines all over the world. It is a nutritious vegetable with a high amount of antioxidants and dietary fiber, and low amount of fat and calories. Eggplant is a sponge like vegetable that absorbs oil very easily. This makes these recipes very high in fats and calories. Baking the eggplant helps to avoid this high fat consumption.

Eggplant Parmesan is a gift of Neapolitan cuisine, and is also known as melanzane alla Parmigiana or Parmigiana di melanzane. The recipe is made from alternate layers of breaded eggplant, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese. The traditional method of preparing the recipe involves the use of fried eggplants for the layers. But to reduce the calories, many people prefer to prepare this recipe by baking. The recipe given below is one of the healthy Parmesan eggplant recipes that can be prepared in very less time.

• Diced tomatoes, 1 can (28 oz.)
• Mozzarella cheese, 2 cups (grated)
• Parmesan cheese, 1 cup (grated)
• Bread crumbs, 2 cups
• Globe eggplants, 1 large
• Onion, 1 medium (diced)
• Eggs, 4
• Pasta sauce, 1 jar (26 oz.)
• Garlic, 1 clove (minced)
• Olive oil, 2 tbsp.
• Salt to taste

For this, preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the large eggplant into small ¼ inch slices. Then, sprinkle salt on both the sides of these slices and keep them aside for at least 15 minutes. Then, remove the salt with water and use a paper towel to remove the water.

Break the eggs in a medium-sized bowl to beat them, and then add the eggplant slices to it. Dip the eggplant slices thoroughly in the egg mixture and roll them over the bread crumbs.

Take a baking sheet and place these breaded slices over it to form a single layer. Bake each side of the breaded eggplant for 10 minutes, so that the bread crumbs on both the sides turn brown. Take a saucepan and add olive oil to it. Saute chopped onion and garlic cloves in it. Then add pasta sauce and diced tomatoes to it and heat the mixture to boil.

Now start arranging the layers on a 9 by 13 inches loaf pan. Place a layer of breaded eggplant at the bottom of the loaf pan. Then pour some sauce to cover these slices. Add grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to the sauce layer. Continue forming similar layers until the baking dish is full. In the end, top the layer with grated cheese.

You can change the order of the layers depending on your choice. Bake the mixture at 350°F for 45 minutes. You can use additional ingredients like oregano, basil leaves, etc., to garnish the layers.