An easy, delicious recipe for eggplant. This is my grandmother’s recipe and it’s my favorite way to eat eggplant. It’s great as a side dish for a weeknight family meal or as an appetizer at a dinner party. The spicy dipping sauce is great for fried foods as well. Zucchini can easily be substituted for the eggplant in this recipe.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people as a side dish, 6-8 people as an appetizer.
Ingredients:
2 medium sized eggplants
2 large eggs
½ cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup regular bread crumbs
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
Pam or equivalent cooking spray
Spicy Dipping Sauce Ingredients:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp creamy horseradish sauce
1/3 tsp paprka
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp oregano
½ tsp salt
Step 1: Cover a large baking pan with heavy duty tin foil. Pour olive oil onto pan and spread over foil until entire surface is coated. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2: Peel the eggplants, cut off the stem end, and slice each eggplant lengthwise into four equal pieces. Cut those pieces lengthwise into finger width sized strips. Cut the strips in half to create two to three inch pieces.
Step 3: Put eggplant pieces into large bowl and season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Step 4: In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Pour the eggs over the eggplant pieces. Get messy and toss the eggplant with your hands until fully coated with the egg.
Step 5: Put the panko bread crumbs and regular bread crumbs into a gallon sized ziploc bag. Seal and shake to mix the crumbs.
Step 6: Time to get messy again. Take a handful of the eggplant and put it into the ziploc bag. Shake to coat the eggplant pieces. Remove eggplant from bag and place them onto the oiled baking pan, close together but not touching. Repeat until all the eggplant is coated.
Step 7: Spray eggplant spears with a thin coating of cooking spray to help make them crispy. Bake for twenty minutes, until eggplant is crisp and brown on the outside and firm on the inside.
Step 8: (Optional) While eggplant is baking, make the spicy dipping sauce. Add ingredients to a small bowl and stir until well blended. If you aren’t a fan of spicy food, you can use ranch dressing or your favorite dipping sauce.
Step 9: Remove eggplant from oven and transfer to a plate. Sprinkle with salt while hot and serve immediately with dipping sauce. Enjoy!
