Amish's Baked Eggplant: 30-Min Recipe

Fried eggplant is layered with fried onions and blanketed with a cheesy white sauce and baked.
Says best-selling author Amish Tripathi, "My mother used to make this delectable dish with baingan (eggplant) and white sauce."

"When my mother steps into the kitchen, I urge her to make this. This is the only baingan preparation I enjoy," Amish told Mini Ribeiro about this recipe, first posted on May 4, 2016.

Ingredients

• 1 large baingan or eggplant or brinjal
• Onions about 2, should be double the amount of the eggplant
• 200 gm ghee
• 50 gm maida or all-purpose flour

Ingredients, continued

• 500 ml milk
• 50-100 gm cheese + 1 cube for the white sauce
• 50 gm butter

Method

• Cut the onions into round slices.
• Heat half of the ghee in a frying pan and fry the onions over medium heat.
  Once fried, drain onto a tissue or paper towel-lined plate.
  Keep aside

Method, continued

• Cut the eggplant in round slices,(just like the onions).
  Add the remaining ghee to the pan and fry the eggplant.
  Once fried, drain onto a tissue or paper towel-lined plate.
  Keep aside.
• In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, saute the maida in the butter and then whisk in the milk and allow the sauce to thicken.
  Grate one cube of cheese into the white sauce.
  Let the sauce cool.

Method, continued

• In an oven-proof bowl, add a layer of fried onions on the bottom and then put a layer of fried brinjal.
  Pour a little bit of white sauce on top.
• Repeat the process and create as many layers as required with the last layer being white sauce.
• Top with a layer of grated cheese.
• Bake at 180°C for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese reddens.
• Serve warm with crusty bread or buttered pasta; serves 3-4

Tips
Consider seasoning the fried eggplant slices with a litle chilly flakes, nutmeg, black pepper, paprika.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley before serving.