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Healthy Authentic Italian Eggplant Parmigiana (super easy!)

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The end of summer always is a bit emotional, especially when you realize that you are not in Italy anymore and cannot have pasta & parmigiana with a view of the ocean anymore. Bringing the view home is a bit tricky but what we can do is bringing the food home in order to hold on onto the holidays for as long as possible. 

And trust me, this dish is at least as good as in Italy. Soft eggplant with creamy tomato sauce and lots of goey molten cheese. If there is something like (healthy) comfort heaven – it is this recipe!! Perfect for cozy fall evenings when you just want something to comfort you but also perfect as a side when you have got some friends over for lunch! Plus: you can easily prepare it and then only place it in the oven and voilà!

What is Parmigiana?

Parmigiana (alla melanzane) is a very typical Italian dish that originated in the South of Italy (there are several regions claiming to have invented it). Typically it is made with fried slices of eggplant layered with tomato sauce and cheese and then baked in the oven. In Italy you can find it on most menus as a Primi Piatto (first course) or as a contorno (side dish).

What is special about this dish?

This recipe version of it is an easier and a bit healthier one than the original. The main difference is that we do not deep fry the eggplant before layering but only roast them a little in a pan. This does not only make it healthier (because way less fat is used) but it also makes the preparation of this dish much easier and simpler. 

Is this dish healthy?

It definitely can be said that this is a dish providing many nutrients. Both, the tomato sauce and the eggplant are sources of fibre, vitamins, carbohydrates and minerals. The olive oil accounts for a decent dose of healthy fats. The mozzarella and parmesan provide a healthy dose of protein. This though comes with a dose of saturated fats too – which is not the healthiest – but you know what? A little cheese never hurt nobody! 

look at that crisp ?

Perfect side or comfort food!

As previously mentioned, in Italy you can mostly find this dish as an Appetizer and sometimes as a side. Making this as an appetizer is a great idea because you can prepare and layer everything (except for the final cheese layer) and set it aside. Before your guests are coming, you can just sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan and bake it. Just make sure not to make too much because it is quite filling. In summer we also love making it as a side dish for pur barbecues because it is a great way to have some veggies and also is it a vegetarian choice for all those who do not want to have any meat. 

Finally, which is our preferred way of having it, you can make it as a main dish. Basically like lasagna, just without pasta sheets and a bit different. Place the skillet on the table and let everyone dig into this goodness. It won’t take long until everything is gone! 

Easy as pie

Making this is super easy. All that needs to be done comes down to very few and easy steps. First you need to slice the eggplant into about 0,5-1cm thick slices before frying them in a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes per side. In the meantime you can already make the tomato sauce for which you just need to sauté some finely chopped onions and garlic in hot oil before adding canned, crushed tomatoes. To make it even easier: use a store bought tomato sauce and skip this step!

The last thing you need to prepare is the cheese: grate the parmesan and roughly chop the mozzarella! That already is it with the preparations and now comes the fun part. Start by adding a layer of eggplant slices into a pan or another oven safe dish. On top goes some tomato sauce, a little mozzarella and a little parmesan. Then repeat it (about 1-2x approximately) until you have used everything up. Now into the oven it goes, for about 25-30 minutes and voilà! 


Anyone who likes eggplants and Italian flavours should try this. Like lasagna, just a little bit healthier and vegetarian. A staple in our house and it is soo good!!
If you try it I would love to know how you like it! 

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Healthy Authentic Italian Eggplant Parmigiana (super easy!)

A classic Italian dish made in a way that is a bit healthier than the regular one – yet, at least as delicious! Easy, healthy and tasty and soso comforting!

Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 Minuten
Cook Time 40 Minuten
Resting time 30 Minuten
Total Time 1 Stunde 30 Minuten
Servings 4 servings

What you will need

  • 2 eggplants
  • 500 ml canned tomatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Italian herbs
  • olive oil
  • 250 g mozzarella cheese
  • 75 g parmesan cheese

How to

  1. Remove the both ends of the eggplant, then slice them into about 0,5-1cm thick slices lengthwise. Place them on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. This will help remove the water from the eggplants. Then take a paper towel, remove the water that has run out and pat them dry.

  2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

  3. In the meantime peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, either by hand or in a food processor. In a pan heat up some olive oil and fry the onion and garlic in there for about a minute. Add the canned, crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and Italian herbs and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

  4. While the sauce is simmering the cheese can be prepared. Grate the parmesan cheese and roughly chop the Mozzarella.

  5. Heat up about 2 more tbsp of olive oil in a pan and fry the eggplants for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Take out and set aside.

  6. Take an oven safe dish and place one layer of the fried eggplant at the bottom. Cover with tomato sauce, half of each, the parmesan and the mozzarella cheese on top, then repeat. At the end, it should all be covered with parmesan cheese.

  7. Now, place in the oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and crispy on the top.

    Enjoy!

Have fun cooking
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Super easy roasted sesame miso eggplant with coconut rice

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The soft „meat“ of the eggplant, soaked with flavour of the sesame miso marinade combined with creamy coconut rice and a baby spinach salad. Way easier than it sounds. And so delicious. 30 minutes, full of flavour, healthy and comforting.

I have never been to Japan, unfortunately, but it definitely is one of the top destinations of my travel list. I just really like all of the flavours, spices and fermented goods in their cuisine. Since the current situation makes travelling a bit difficult, it is time for us to bring Japan home! Taking the delicious and decadent flavours and making masterpieces out of them in the kitchen! And also, here is no better way to start into the slightly colder season than with some good comfort food. Heating up the oven and baking and the bubbling food on the stove. A super soft on the inside eggplant and creamy rice is the perfect dish for such occasions.

What is special about this dish?

Kind of everything, to be honest. The eggplant that is prepared and soaked up with the slightly sweet but so delicious asian marinade and baked to perfection and the rice that is not you average side dish rice but made with much more flavour.

What is miso and where can you get it?

Miso is a paste made from fermented soy beans and salt. It originated in Japan and is typically used in Asian, especially Japanese cuisine. Probably it’s most common use is in miso soup, which you can find at most Japanese restaurants. There are several different kinds of miso paste, from black to yellow and sweet so sour. For this recipe, I would recommend using a yellow/ light one without added sugar since we are adding the sweetness ourselves.

You can find Miso paste at pretty much any asian grocery store. It also often can be found at health stores or organic markets because of its high content of probiotics (through fermentation) or speciality stores.

Is this dish healthy?

I would definitely say so! You get great nutrients such as vitamins and fibre form the eggplant and also healthy probiotics from the miso (although there won’t be as much due to heating it up). The rice adds some great carbohydrates and protein and the coconut milk adds a healthy dose of fats. The only thing you should note is that this dish is a bit high in sodium because of its Miso and soy sauce content. If you have issues with sodium or make it sodium reduced, you can long for sodium reduced soy sauce, which you can find at any supermarket!

Meal prep & friendly?!

Yes and yes! You can very well store this in containers and heat it up whenever you want to enjoy it. The flavours will stay and consistency wise the reheating won’t be a problem. It also is pretty family friendly and a great way to sneak some more veggies onto the plates. If in your family, someone cannot go without meat, an easy way to include this is to just add some chicken, prawns or any other meat/ seafood of your preference into the marinade and then just fry it up in a pan while the eggplant is baking!

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe and that it gets you a little bit excited for the colder season ahead of us!

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Super easy roasted sesame miso eggplant with coconut rice

Soft eggplant that is full of flavor and easy to make paired with some dreamy, creamy coconut rice and a fresh salad!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine asian, Japanese
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 35 Minuten
Total Time 40 Minuten
Servings 4 people
Calories 530 kcal

What you will need

For the eggplant:

  • 2 eggplants
  • 1 tbsp Tahini
  • 3 tbsp miso paste
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • a few drops Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • 6 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup

For the rice:

  • 250 g rice
  • 200 ml coconut milk
  • 300 ml water

For the rest:

  • 4 handful baby spinach
  • 2 scallions (spring onions)
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds

How to

  1. Cut the eggplants lengthwise. Carefully cut a grid-pattern into each half of the eggplant. This only is supposed to add some depth to the eggplant to soak up the flavor better. Do not cut the eggplant through!

  2. In a bowl/ tupperware combine all of the inrgedients for the sauce. Place the eggplant halfes, pattern side down in the marinade and let marinade for about 2-4 hours if you have got the time (if you do not, continue on from the next step).

  3. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the eggplant halves on a baking tray and brush some of that remaining dressing into the grids. Bake the eggplant for 25-30 minutes. Take them out of the oven, heat it up to 225°C. Brush the eggplants again and bake for another 5 minutes.

  4. In the meantime add the rice along with the coconut milk, some salt and water to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let simmer until all liquid is absorbed. Cover and let steam on very low heat for another 3-5 minutes until the rice is soft.

  5. Wash the baby spinach and toss it with some slat, pepper,a nd the remaining eggplant marinade.

  6. Divide the rice and salad onto the plates and add the eggplant on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, chopped up scallions and cliantro. Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Shrimp, Carrot & Aubergine Mushroom Dumplings

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Dumplings are one of my absolutely favourite things to have. I always order them when going out to Chinese or Japanese restaurant but I have never dared to make them at home because I thought it was super complicated to make them. Wrong! They are not complicated at all, just require a little work, which is a lot of fun when doing it with someone else.

I do not know if anyone else loves the mix of textures and flavours or a decently spiced filling and a soft and doughy outer shell as much as I do. The combination always gets me and I believe that it is the perfect comforting and still healthy food. The great thing is that you can switch up the fillings and get so creative. There is nothing you cannot put into those cute, little dumplings.

Since everyone has different taste buds, I created 2 versions for this first dumpling blog post. A vegetarian (vegan actually) and one with seafood. They both are incredibly delicious. For the vegetarian I combined some super finely chopped eggplant and some super finally chopped mushrooms. The chopping really takes time but making it that small just changes the taste so much because it almost feels like ground meat, texture wise, and you have both veggies in one bite. This mixture is sautéed just for a minute or so and then tossed with a teriyaki sauce. The sauce really adds a lot of flavour and makes it so addictingly good.

The shrimp dumpling is even easier. I use frozen shrimps simply because they are easiest to get and to store. Before preparing them, they need to be defrosted, which you can either do by taking them out of the freezer a few hours before cooking or if you forgot to do that, you can place them in a bowl with warm water and let them defrost that way. The shrimps are also finely chopped. The other 2 ingredients are carrots, which are peeled and also chopped up really finely and wild garlic. I love to use wild garlic at this time of the year but if you do not have that on hand you can use normal garlic cloves instead. This mixture does not have to be pre cooked, because the shrimps I use are already cooked before frozen. If yours are not you can quickly pan fry them or you just cook them when steaming.

As for the outside dough, in this recipe we are using wonton wrappers. You can get those frozen at any asian market and sometimes even in supermarkets or speciality stores. Those are the same ones you would use for spring rolls. So you can deep fry, pan fry or steam them. Same with those dumplings. I am 100% down for steaming, simply because I believe they taste best and the flavours come out most, but you can also crisp them up in a pan. I would not recommend deep-frying them tough.

Here I decided to close them differently and bring them into diverse shapes but if this is too much work for you, leaving it with one is absolutely fine. The filling and shaping does take some time, because each wrapper is a bite, so it takes a while until you have gotten them all read but it is so worth it.

You can serve them as an appetiser when friends are over, or also if not, or just prepare more and make an asian spread for lunch or dinner (maybe with the satay skewers, which are coming up on the blog next week?). This recipe is totally family approved, not only everyone likes eating them, but the making them together part is. a lot of fun too!

When you serve them, then do so with some soy, teriyaki, chilli or peanut sauce to dip in!

I hope that you will love this recipe as much as I do!

Have fun cooking,

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Shrimp and Carrot Dumplings

Light, easy and super tasty. Crunchy carrot, soft prawns and fresh wild garlic, the result, an absoltue amazing dish!

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch, Side Dish
Cuisine asian, Chinese
Prep Time 27 Minuten
Cook Time 8 Minuten
Total Time 35 Minuten
Servings 15 dumplings
Calories 48 kcal

What you will need

That is what you need:

  • 15 wonton wrappers
  • 3 carrots
  • 300 g prawns frozen and thawed
  • 1 handful wild garlic
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • some sesame seeds

How to

This is how it works:

  1. Peel the carrot. Slice and cube it into mini chunks, about 2 mm large. The smaller you get them, the better they are. Or, grate them with a grater.

  2. Defrost the prawns and chop them very small too. Take the wild garlic, wash it and also cut this one into small sizes.

  3. Place all of those ingredients in a bowl and mix them together with the soy sauce.

  4. Take one wrapper at a time and place a teaspoon of the filling into the middle. Brush the edges of the wraper with some water and fold two diagonal edges together. Close the dumpling up by pressing the open sides to each other so they close.

  5. If you want to, you can make a small pattern by taking one end of the triangle and folding it towards the other side. The part of the wrapper where the dough has been folded over, now folds over in the same direction. Continue doing this until you have reached the other side of the wrapper.

  6. Repeat that with the remaining wrappers until the filling is used up.

    Bring some water to a boil in a pot. Take a steamer, a bamboo steamer preferably, and place the dumplings in it on top of some parchment paper to prevent them from sticking.

    Steam them for about 5-8 minutes until the dough is soft. Serve them with some sauces like soy sauce, chili sauce or peanut sauce, a sprinkle of sesame seeds and some fresh cilantro.

    Enjoy!

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Aubergine and Mushroom Dumplings

A vegan version of the best asian comfort food. Soft and tangy aubergine mushroom mix tossed in soft wrappers. INcredibly good.

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch, Side Dish
Prep Time 27 Minuten
Cook Time 8 Minuten
Total Time 35 Minuten
Servings 15 wrappers
Calories 39 kcal

What you will need

That is what you need:

  • 15 wonton wrappers
  • 1/2 eggplant
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 200 g mushrooms you can use champignons or oyster mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce can be substituted for 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp honey
  • sesame seeds
  • fresh cilantro
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 3 cm ginger

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Finely chop the ginger, garlic, mushrooms and eggplant into about 2mm sized cubes. The smaller the better.

    In a pan heat up the oil. Sautée the veggies for about 2 minutes. Take them off the heat and stir in the teriyaki sauce.

    Take one wrapper at a time and place one teaspoon of the mixture in the middle. Brush all edges with some water. Take the four edges and pull them up to the center and press them together. Take the remaing open sides and also press those together so the dumpling is fully closed.

  2. Repeat that with the remaining wrappers until the filling is used up. 

    Bring some water to a boil in a pot. Take a steamer, a bamboo steamer preferably, and place the dumplings in it on top of some parchment paper to prevent them from sticking.

    Steam them for about 5-8 minutes until the dough is soft. Serve them with some sauces like soy sauce, chili sauce or peanut sauce, a sprinkle of sesame seeds and some fresh cilantro. 

    Enjoy!