Eggplant Parmigiana

 Last year, my daughter asked me to recreate olive garden’s eggplant parmigiana for her birthday. 

The recipe is not hard to guess, but I still googled to see if there is anything fancy. I found one in olive garden’s own website(I think) and it was just as easy as I thought it would be. I replaced their egg dip, with maida dip. And it turned out the same. But frying eggplant took forever! Then I found this recipe(link given below) for airfryer. Since I don’t own an airfryer, I did half frying on stove top and remaining in the oven. My friend Ashwini helped me by giving me tips on how to get the airfried effect from the conventional oven. 

If you own an airfryer, I think making this would be extremely easy. I am still debating if I should just buy one. I see all drool worthy recipes online, but don’t know how much it'll help with my style of cooking. Don’t want to use up my counter space unnecessarily. Anyways, for those who own one, this is the method mentioned in the blog - After the patties are coated well and ready to be fried, line them on the airfryer tray without crowding them and bake at 390 F for 10 min. Turn them mid point. Once done, put the toppings and bake them again until cheese melts. For more details you can follow the link below. 

Enjoy!  

Ingredients

Eggplant - 2 medium

Bread crumbs - (made from 12 pieces - enough for 2 whole eggplants)

Garlic salt 

Dip 1

Maida + Salt + pepper 

Dip 2

Maida + water(or milk) + salt + pepper 

Dip 3 

Bread crumbs + garlic salt + Italian seasoning

Oil for frying

Cheese - I used organic cheese from Costco.

Marinara sauce

Method 

Cut eggplant into thick rounds. Spread it across a plate. 

Take some garlic salt(or regular salt) and smear it on eggplants and leave it aside for at least 30 min. After 30 min, you can see water droplets all over eggplant and some water in the plate too. 

 

Meanwhile prepare dips in 3 different wide containers/plates.

Heat oil for shallow frying. 

Take one eggplant round at a time, wipe it clean. Dip in dry maida, then in wet maida paste and then cover it in bread crumbs. 

Shallow fry both sides until it is half cooked(light brown). Eggplant soaks up oil like sponge. Carefully try to squeeze out oil by using two spatulas while taking it out from frying pan. Keep them separately on a foil lined baking tray. After frying is done, broil it in the oven for 10 min. When one side looks roast enough(dark brown) flip it and broil it again. When it’s almost done take the tray out. Smear some sauce and add some cheese and keep it back in the oven. After cheese melts, take them out. Enjoy with some pasta! 

 

Recipe Source - “https://www.theyummypalate.com/eggplant-parmesan-air-fryer-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR2ghDZUh4eZ-L-jtBUUKvujfTx3rdvgKE9G-HYLcc0vfK94KMkwXahJ9BM”

Recipe Tips - Ashwini BK