Eggplant Parmesan

This a simple version of eggplant parmesan, that is lighter, but still have all the delicious flavors! This hearty dish has all the comfort components, makes it prefect for a  weekday or the weekend! It’s naturally gluten free and vegetarian!

The first time I knew about this eggplant parmesan dish was eight years ago when my mother-in-law came to visit us in Iowa in the united states. We went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. She ordered this dish, and I really got intrigued, even though I was an eggplant hater.  Just a year later, I started a series on the blog, to document the traditional food I grew up on, my family heritage, and recipes from Arabic cuisine, from Palestine and the Levant area. And they have many recipes for eggplant. I started with Mutabal, and guess what it’s been the number-one recipe in views since then!

Eggplant parmesan

Since the blog started I decided to post the healthiest recipes here possible. However, I also like to keep it real. This recipe while has cheese, the sauce is made from scratch and is actually very healthy, and the eggplant is baked not fried. and parmesan and mozzarella cheese are low to moderate in-fat cheeses.

Few days ago, I was chatting with mom asking her for old recipes that she knows to add to the blog. While we were talking , she told me that her dear friends told her about the eggplant parmesan , I said maybe I’ll give it a try but not now. Then a day later I wanted to make chicken parmesan for dinner. I wanted to check recipe by preppy kitchen, I saw earlier that he filmed a new video for. So, the minute I was typing the word parmesan, I got the eggplant parmesan result. I decided to give it a try, and went directly to the market, got everything I need, and I made it and captured some photos. I wish I wasn’t in a hurry, I wanted to capture better photos. It’s a nice dish with lots of potential for captivating moody photos.

The original Italian recipe is like this , has basic marinara sauce and no breaded eggplant in an egg wash. You need to cut the eggplant thick enough to carry the weight of cheese .

Health benefits of eggplant

Is a vegetable related to a night shade family. It’s low in calories, fats, and has good amounts of fibers, and minerals.

Most of the benefits comes from the skin, so its crucial not to remove it when you cook. It becomes thin, and totally, edible, and palatable. The bigger the eggplant is, the bitter flavor it has! But oddly enough, it becomes higher in antioxidants contents!

Since, I’m not Italian by any means, I simply followed the instructions in this video, I couldn’t find fresh mozzarella cheese, but if you do , give it a try!

We will brush eggplant with olive oil, and broil it before cooking

It will look like this

Then we make marinara sauce and put in the bottom of the baking dish

Then we layer the eggplant, add cheese , mozzarella and fresh grated parmesan , up to desire. But you need to cover the eggplant. Then you top with marinara sauce again.

Then cheese again, and to the oven, until you see the sauce boiling on the sides.

If you made this eggplant parmesan, I would love to hear your feedback and see your creations! Tag me on Instagram @Nutrizonia or use the #Nutrizonia

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Yield: 2

Eggplant Parmesan

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 17 minutes

Total Time: 37 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 medium to large premium eggplant
• Parmesan cheese 100g freshly grated
• Mozzarella cheese 100g
• Marinara sauce*
• 1 small white onion chopped
• 3 medium tomato chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 Tb olive oil
• Basil leaves, dried or fresh
• Salt and black pepper up to desire

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 365 f, 180 C
2. In a medium pot, add 2 TB of olive oil, on medium to high heat. Sauté onion for 3-5 minutes or until it becomes soft and translucent, then add chopped garlic, and continue sautéing until it becomes tender too.
3. Then add chopped tomato, salt, and black pepper, and a put a lid on the pot, and let the sauce simmer on low to medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cut eggplant into thick circles, brush them with olive oil and put them in the oven for 10 minutes to soften them a bit.
5. Then switch to broiling option, and broil them for 5 minutes or less, just to get nice color, and feel.
6. Now turn off the heat on the sauce, you can add fresh or dried basil a this time. Let the sauce cool, and then blender it in the blender, and keep aside.
7. Now in a deep dish, start to assemble the layers by adding sauce on the bottom of the dish.
8. Then layer the eggplant, add mozzarella cheese and parmesan up to taste, and a dash of black prepare, then repeat, marinara sauce, eggplant, cheese.
9. Put in the oven at 365C for 15- 18 minutes, until you see the edges are boiling hot, and the cheese is melted.
10. Topped with freshly grated parmesan, fresh basil leaves if available, and serve hot.
11. Keep leftovers in zip lock bags in the freezer, or in the fridge for couple of days only.

Notes

* The sauce is plenty, keep it in a jar in the fridge for later use

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

2

Serving Size:

1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g