Vegetarian Flavours

Eggplant Lasagne & Garlic Bread

Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 105 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
Eggplant Lasagne
2 eggplants, sliced
3/4 cup flour (may need more)
1 cup water (variation may occur)
Oil
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
3 medium onions, diced
1 whole garlic, minced
850g tomatoes canned or paste
Salt, to taste
6 tbsp Italian/mixed herbs
3 tbsp garlic powder/granules
1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 yellow bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 green bell pepper, diced
8-10 olives, sliced
2 cups grated cheese

Garlic Bread
3 sticks Italian bread, halved
50g butter, softened
1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp italian/mixed herbs
1 cup grated cheese

Method:
Sauce: Heat a little oil in a pan and add half of the diced onion (i.e. 1.5 onions, diced). Cook until the onion softens and is translucent and add the garlic. Keep cooking until the garlic softens a little as well. Add the tomatoes and cook for approximately 5 minutes before adding salt to taste, 2 tbsp of the italian/mixed herds, the chilli powder, and 2 tbsp garlic powder/granules. Keep cooking, stirring continuously and add water if need be. Keep cooking till desired taste and add cream/sour cream if desired.

Eggplant: Keep the sliced eggplant in some water filled in a bowl while preparing the flour/water slurry. In a shallow bowl add the flour and the water slowly and mix until the consistency is a thin paste. In a pan, heat oil for deep-frying. Meanwhile, in another shallow bowl prepare the breadcrumbs by adding 2 tbsp italian/mixed herbs to the breadcrumbs and mixing them together. Now dip an eggplant slice in the flour/water slurry and then fry. Straight after frying, add the eggplant to the breadcrumbs and coat the eggplant. Repeat dipping the of eggplant, frying, and coating with breadcrumbs until all the eggplant slices are done.

Vegetable Mixture: In a bowl, mix the rest of the onion, the bell peppers, and the olives. Add the last 2 tbsp of italian/mixed herb and 1 tbsp garlic powder/granules.

Assembly: Preheat oven to 180°C or 350°F. In a deep baking tray, spread some of the sauce as the first layer. For the next layer, spread the eggplants to create another layer and then add another layer of sauce. Now sprinkle the vegetable mixture. Repeat the layers of sauce, eggplant, sauce, and vegetables until all the ingredients have been used. For the last layer, sprinkle grated cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C or 350°F.

Garlic Bread: In a bowl, mix the softened butter, garlic powder and italian/mixed herbs. Spreadthe garlic powder on the halved breadsticks generously. Sprinkle the cheese and bake in the oven with the lasagne for 10 minutes.