Life 'n' Such

Deanna used to work with us. She is full of energy, and very sweet. She heard about my blog (through my dear husband), and offered me her family’s recipe for making the very best Eggplant Parmesan. This is her recipe with a helpful tip on how to select eggplants.

Ingredients:
eggplants
freshly grated parmesan cheese
spaghetti sauce

In buying eggplants, buy dark ones and the lighter in weight, the better (light means less seeds). You will need approximately 3 cups of freshly grated parmesan cheese (depending on how much you are making). You will also need spaghetti sauce (3 cups approx. or more, depending on how much you are making also.)

Peel the skin from the eggplant and if you have a slicing machine, use that; otherwise you need to slice them by hand. The secret to good eggplants is to be sliced very thin (as close to paper thin as you can get).

Next, rinse the eggplant slices in cold water and place the pieces in a colander, layer after layer, sprinkling salt on each layer. Be sure to leave the center of the colander empty so that the liquid will drain out. Then place a dish on the eggplant with a weight on top of the dish so that the liquid will drain out. Let drain for about an hour before the next step.

After the draining, use paper towels and lay the eggplant individually on the paper towels. Put paper towels between layers also. Try to squeeze as much water out as you can.

Now you are ready to fry the eggplant. Use a vegetable oil or canola (do not use olive oil for these). Put about ¼ inch of oil in the bottom of a frying pan. When the oil is hot, begin frying the eggplant slices. Replenish oil as needed, being sure it is hot before adding eggplant each time. Turn and fry on other side when light brown.

Place fried eggplant on paper towels to drain when removed from fry pan. Continue to fry all eggplant.

After all eggplant slices are fried, you are ready to begin assembling your Eggplant Parmesan.

Put a very thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of ovenproof dish. Place one layer of eggplant slices, grated parmesan cheese and then one layer of spaghetti sauce. Repeat layers until all eggplant slices are used, ending with parmesan cheese.

Bake approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until hot and bubbly.

Doesnt the recipe sound delicious! I cant wait to try it myself.

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Our friend Nouman has 3 wonderful kids; Aayah(little miss cutie), Akram (with the biggest almond shaped eyes I have ever seen), and Noor(the little angel). Nouman loves to cook, though he is originally from Saudi Arabia, he enjoys all kinds of cuisine. He knows the best restaurant in every city. This recipe is one from many of his creations.

Ingredients:
1 big eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch thick chunks, and soaked in water and salt for about an hour
oil for frying,
rice flour for sprinkling on the eggplant pieces, about 1/3 cup(optional, my mom suggested this)
yoghurt 1 1/2 cups,
salt, black pepper,
2-3 garlic cloves minced,
1/2 tsp dried mint/ 1 tsp fresh mint chopped
2 tbsp mayonnaise (optional – I like to add a tbsp of mayo for additional flavor)

After the eggplant is soaked in water, drain out the water completely, and sprinkle rice flour over the pieces coating it on both sides. When the oil is heated, fry the pieces and then lay them on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

To make the sauce, mix the yoghurt, mayo (optional), mint, garlic, salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce before serving over the eggplant, or serve them seperately. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Update: If you dont like mint sauce, you can make tomato sauce. In some oil, fry some garlic, add chopped tomatoes, fry till done. Finally sprinkle salt, pepper, red pepper.

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