K helped me make this dish - so a big thank you to K!
I had 3 small American eggplants, so decided to make eggplant parmesan.
I washed the eggplants and cut them into rounds - medium size. **for the future I will be cutting them lengthwise**
I sprinkled some salt on them and let them sit in a colander till I got the other things ready. I started the oven at 400 degrees and set up two baking pans to use. I put a thin layer of Hunts Garlic and Herb tomato sauce on the bottom of the pans.
K cut the parsley and chopped one big onion for me.
I did not want to use eggs, so according to my friend Iwona, I mixed milk and extra virgin olive oil. I mixed these two thoroughly and kept it on the side.
In another bowl I put some bread crumbs and grated three big cloves of garlic in it. In another bowl I set up parmesan cheese, mixed with bread crumbs, parsley and in another mozzarella cheese.
In the cooking pan, I added a little EVOO and put the chopped onions in it, with some grated aadu (ginger) and chopped green thai chillies. Seeing this, my K said, "oh you are cooking this dish desi style". I told him to just saute the mixture ;) I added a little of the chopped parsley to this, salt and a little crushed black pepper. Once this was well cooked, I added this to the bowl of parmesan cheese+bread crumbs+parsley.
Next K washed all the cut eggplants thoroughly and patted them dry for me. I dipped them in the oil+milk mixture and then in the only breadcrumbs bowl. Next they went on a hot pan sprayed with PAM for about 3 minutes. The pan was on 7 setting on the stove. The eggplants went straight from the pan to the baking dish (with the sauce on the bottom). Once I had both the baking dishes/pans filled, I evenly sprinkled the mixture of cooked onions+parmesan+bread crumbs+parsley on top of it. I put a layer of the tomato sauce on top of it again and put the mozzarella cheese on it.
It went into the oven for 30 minutes. I also turned down the oven temperature from 400 degrees to 325 degrees, after I put the pans inside.
I was going to take pictures of the steps, but the mess that I had created while doing all this discouraged me. I decided to take the picture of the final product. But once it was all done, none of us could wait any longer and all of us just dived in!!
Changes for next time - I would add a tad bit more of the garlic, salt, ginger and thai chillies. We ended up sprinkling red crushed pepper, but I would have preferred not using it!
Please try this and let me know how it turns out for you.
