As you can see, I’ve been into cooking recently. I think cooking is sort of a therapy to keep all my worries at bay. Not to mention, it really satiates my eternal desire for food!

I won’t brag about my cooking skills, since I have rare to none. But, this particular dish of mine is rarely served in our kitchen, mainly because my lola loves it! My grandmother is a great cook, mind you, and she has a delicate taste for everything. Gone were my failed attempts on bulgogi, Korean steak, Chicken-fried steak, Raspberry Souffle (which made me cry on Christmas day), etc. This is one of my specialties, perhaps second to baking chocolate-macadamia cookies. Honestly, I don’t think I could still pull off the same perfection as before on the latter. It’s been a long time since I baked one, back when the oven was still in good working condition.

Without further ado, here’s my Eggplant Parmesan Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 large-sized eggplants cut horizontally into 1/4 inch thick (the recipe says you have to remove the skin, but I didn’t coz I like its texture )

Directions:

Prepare eggplant, bread crumbs and egg white. First, beat egg white with 2 tbsps of water until foamy. Dip each eggplant piece into the egg white, and then coat each using the bread crumbs, pressing it against the crumbs to adhere better.

Prepare a ceramic or glass baking pan, spread 1 tsp of butter, then place the eggplant pieces one by one until spaces are all filled. Do not put one atop of the other.

Cook in a microwave oven set high by 4 minutes. Remove the baking pan. Then turn the eggplants upside down. Bake for another minute. Eggplants must look brownish and crispy.

On the other hand, sauté garlic and onion until golden brown using olive oil. Place them together with tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper & basil in a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients fully.

Prepare another glass baking pan. First place half of the tomato mixture into the pan, and then half of the eggplant pieces. Sprinkle it with half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the same procedure, making another layer. Btw, the mozzarella should be on the last layer, followed by sprinkling parmesan cheese.

Bake it using the microwave oven for 3-4 minutes, or until the sauce starts to boil and the mozzarella is nicely melted.

Note that all measurements are based on my “very subjective” estimates. I didn’t use any measuring device, just simple utensils you can find in any home. My measuring cups and spoons were left in Novaliches, so I had to improvise. Also, I used microwave oven. Baking it using a convection oven may take some time.