Recipe: Eggplant Parmesan in white sauce

Popular Indian cookbook chef Ritu Dalmia now offers a selection of vegetable yummies. We bring you one more recipes from her latest cookbook. Today it's Eggplant Parmesan in white sauce!

Through most of last week, we've been sharing with you award-winning chef, restaurateur and bestselling author Ritu Dalmia's vegetarian recipes from her new book Diva Green: A Vegetarian Cookbook.

Buy all of Ritu Dalmia's books here!

So far we've shared with you recipes for:

• Spinach Tempura with Radish Dipping Sauce
• Green pea falafel burger 
• Halloumi skewers with cherry tomatoes and onions.

Today we bring you the recipe for:

Melanzane alla Parmigiana or Eggplant Parmesan in white sauce

I have (offered earlier) the recipe for the classic Parmigiana made with tomato sauce. But recently a chief in Napoli made this particular version without the tomatoes, giving it delicacy and elegance. When I want something robust, I make the classic version, and when I need to do a pre-plated dish I prefer to make this version as this one is less messy. But it is just as delicious!

Ingredients

750 g medium, round eggplant, sliced into discs of about ¼ cm
Salt to season
Sifted flour for dusting
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
500g basic bechamel sauce
250 g fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
100 g Parmesan cheese, grated
A handful of basil leave
1/2 tsp butter
A sprig of basil

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
• Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and set aside for 30 minutes to draw out the bitterness.
• Rinse the eggplant in cold water, then pat dry with paper towels.
• Lightly flour each slice.
• In a shallow pan heat 4 to 5 tbsp of olive oil and fry all the eggplant slices on both sides until they are golden and soft. Season with salt.
• Grease a baking dish lightly with oil.
• Spread a layer of bechamel sauce and arrange half the eggplant slices over this.
• Top this with a layer of mozzarella slices, grated Parmesan and basil leaves.
• Repeat the layers beginning with a layer of eggplant slices, once more. We don't want more than two layers of eggplant slices.
• Top with a layer of bechamel sauce.
• Dot the top with butter and sprinkle a final layer of Parmesan cheese.
• Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, till the cheese becomes golden.
• Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with a sprig of basil. Serve hot.
• Excerpted from Diva Green: A Vegetarian Cookbook by Ritu Dalmia with kind permission from Hachette, India, (Rs 699)

Purchase the book here