Eggplant Parmigiana Recipe

Parmigiana is one among the popular classic Italian dishes. Though the earlier version of this dish was made with eggplant, nowadays it is served with various types of fillings. Eggplant parmigiana is a delicious dish that can be prepared at home. In Italian, this dish is known as melanzane alla parmigiana or parmigiana di melanzane.

Another common name for this dish is eggplant Parmesan. It is said that the dish got its name from one of the ingredients - parmigiano-reggiano or Parmesan cheese.

Eggplant parmigiana is a baked delicacy, which consists of fried eggplant slices layered with cheese and sauce. It can be served with bread, or can be used in sandwiches. You may also use it as an appetizer, or as the main dish. This is one of the easiest eggplant parmigiana recipes, which can be prepared within 40 minutes. This recipe can yield around six to eight servings.

Ingredients

• Large eggplants - 2
• Eggs - 4
• All-purpose flour - 1 cup
• Breadcrumbs - 4 cups
• Marinara sauce - 1 quart
• Romano cheese (grated) - 4 ounces
• Mozzarella cheese slices - 8 ounces
• Oil - As per requirement

Method of Preparation

• Wash and peel the eggplants. Peeling is optional, as the skin of this vegetable is rich in nutrients.

• Cut them into slices that are ¼ inch in thickness. You may add salt to the slices and keep them for an hour, so as to the reduce the pungent smell, and to drain some moisture. Otherwise, you can directly use the sliced vegetable. Fry the slices one by one.

• Coat the sides of each eggplant slice with flour, and dip it in beaten eggs, which is kept in a separate bowl. Coat it with breadcrumbs and shallow fry (you may also do deep frying), till it turns golden brown.

• Transfer the fried eggplant slices to a rectangular baking pan, which is coated with marinara sauce. Spread a layer of fried eggplant slices in the bottom of the pan and top it with mozzarella slices and grated Romano.

• Add some more sauce before starting with the next layer. Once the layering is over, make a top layer of sauce and cheese.
• Once done, cook the eggplant for around 25 minutes in the oven, which is preheated to 350° F. After removing the dish from the oven, let it sit for ten minutes before serving.

You may also try grilled eggplant parmigiana recipe, which is also equally popular. The ingredients, except eggplant, may vary in different recipes. While some people like to shallow fry the eggplant slices, others go for deep frying.

Even sliced and roasted eggplant is used for preparing this dish. Even the type of cheese used in this dish may vary, as some people prefer hard varieties like Parmesan, while others go for softer ones like mozzarella.