This is a fun take on this beloved Italian classic called melanzane alla parmigiana, aka eggplant parmesan, through an Indian lens. I stuck with a theme – Go bold and go hot! The tomato sauce gets infused with heat from red pepper flakes, turmeric, and garam masala in the tomato sauce, and a sprinkling of nigella seeds (don’t use mustard seeds here, it doesn’t work nicely in this combination). There’s one other change that I made to reduce the wateriness of eggplant parmesan. Traditionally, eggplant slices are fried and then layered into the baking dish. In the first half of the recipe, freshly cut slices of eggplant are sprinkled with salt and left to sit. Salt acts as an osmotic agent by drawing out the water inside the eggplant. I want to clarify that salt does not reduce bitterness in eggplants. First, eggplants are bred to be less bitter; farmers have selected less bitter-tasting varieties, so even if you skip the salt, they usually don’t taste bitter (they won’t taste as nice, salt is essential for taste). Bitter-tasting molecules in eggplants are large, and salt can’t pull them out as well. Instead, salt masks the taste of bitterness, if any. Once the eggplant is salted and water drawn out, I rinse the slices quickly to get rid of excess salt, pat them dry, and then roast them in the oven. Roasting helps produce richer flavors in the eggplant and dehydrates the vegetable even more. I like to serve eggplant parmesan with a green salad on the side—a bed of cold lettuce with a bit of olive oil and vinegar. Eggplant parmesan is one of those dishes that stands on its own and needs nothing else. No reviews Fine sea salt Grapeseed oil 2 Tbsp ghee or unsalted butter, softened to room temperature plus extra to grease a baking dish 1 tsp red pepper flakes (use a hot variety) 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 ½ tsp garam masala, homemade or store-bought 1 large white or yellow onion, diced 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced One 28 oz/800 g can crushed tomatoes 6 oz/170 g shredded mozzarella ¼ cup/8 g grated Parmesan 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed 1 Tbsp nigella seeds 2 Tbsp fresh basil leaves, torn Surprised your ginger cookies didn’t make the cut. They are great! Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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