Eggplant Parmesan

Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients  
Olive oil
1 large eggplant (brinjal)
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup mozarella cheese
Finely chopped basil (I used cilantro)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of dried basil, 
1 teaspoon of oregano 
1 teaspoon of chili flakes (optional)

Ingredients for the sauce

1/4 finely diced onion

2 chopped tomatoes

6 small carrots

5 pods of finely chopped garlic

1 bay leaf
1 cup of water

2-3 finely chopped black olives (Optional)

1/2 cup of finely grated mushrooms (Optional)
1 cup chicken stock (Optional)

Step 1: Chop the eggplants into thin rectangular pieces, sprinkle them with some salt and pepper. Let them bake on a sheet greased with olive oil for about 25 minutes until they are soft. Keep them aside. Alternately, you could fry them lightly in olive oil.

Tomato sauce

Step 2: If you are making your own sauce, saute garlic and finely chopped onions in olive oil. Add the tomatoes, carrots, bay leaf and let it boil in some water and/or chicken stock. Add some black olives and finely chopped mushrooms, if you have any.  Add parsley, oregano and let it cook for about 1-1.5 hour until it reduces to a thin sauce.

Layers of cheese, sauce and eggplant

Step 3: The next step is to layer the prepared sauce, eggplant, mozarella and parmesan cheese, along with some cilantro or basil into a 9" baking pan.

Step 4: Let it bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese completely melts.

Step 5: You can have it by itself or with some bread and white wine!

Ready to eat