Eggplant Parmesan is a delicious Italian baked vegetarian dish featuring multiple layers of fried eggplants, a rich herby tomato sauce and grated cheese. Prepare this easy, Italian-inspired dish of Eggplant Parmigiana in no time at all and serve it as a main or side dish.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 35 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course, Side Dish
  • Cuisine: Italian, World

Ingredients

  • 1 eggplant (- large sized (aubergine))
  • 1 teaspoon basil (- chopped or ½ teaspoon dried basil)
  • ½ teaspoon dry oregano
  • 1 onion (- small to medium-sized, finely chopped)
  • 2 tomatoes (- large, finely chopped or about 2 cups of finely chopped tomatoes)
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves (- peeled and finely chopped or ½ teaspoon finely chopped)
  • 4 tablespoons oil (- for frying the eggplants, any neutral flavored oil)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (- for the tomato sauce)
  • 1 teaspoon white wine (or red wine, optional)
  • 50 grams cheese (vegetarian parmesan, mozzarella or cheddar, add as needed)
  • salt (as required)
  • black pepper (as required)

Method

Pan frying the eggplant

  1. Rinse and slice the eggplant lengthwise in 3 to 4 mm width slices.
  2. Spread some salt all over them. Mix the salt evenly and keep them for 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Then rinse them in water a few times and dry the eggplant slices completely.
  4. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a pan. On medium heat, fry the eggplant slices in batches till golden.
  5. Make sure that the oil is moderately hot before frying. If fried on a lower temperature, the eggplants will absorb a lot of oil.
  6. Place the fried eggplant slices on kitchen paper towels so that the excess of oil is absorbed.

Making tomato sauce

  1. After frying the eggplants, the oil in the pan would almost be over. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil.
  2. Add the finely chopped onions and garlic. On low to medium-low heat sauté till the onions are translucent and and are softened.
  3. Then add the tomatoes. On medium-low to medium heat sauté till the tomatoes soften and become pulpy.
  4. Add the wine, salt, pepper and sauté for a minute on low heat.
  5. Then add the oregano and basil and sauté for a minute.

Assembling and baking eggplant parmesan

  1. Brush a baking pan with olive oil evenly all over. First make a layer of half a portion of of the tomato sauce in the pan.
  2. Then arrange 3 to 4 slices of the fried aubergines. Grate some cheese on top evenly all over or sprinkle the grated cheese on top evenly.
  3. Layer with the remaining of the tomato sauce.
  4. Place the remaining slices of the fried eggplants.
  5. Grate cheese on the top or add grated cheese covering the slices of eggplants fully.
  6. In a preheated oven bake the eggplant parmesan for 8 to 10 minutes at 200 degrees C/390 degrees F till the cheese melts.
  7. Serve Eggplant Parmesan hot or warm. You can opt to garnish with some basil or parsley if you like.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.