The Romaezis

Cooking for Kam: Breaded Eggplant

I’ll be the first to admit, I do not like eggplant. That won’t keep me from feeding it to my kid. It is so full of nutrients and healthy that I decided to at least try it on him. I know that once cooked, frozen then defrosted and reheated (what it takes to cook ahead) eggplant can get mushy. That is why I wanted to try the breaded route. The results were a smash hit.

The eggplant I bought was enormous so the recipe below is for a very large eggplant.

Ingredients
1 eggplant
3 medium (or 2 large eggs)
1 cup milk
1.5 cups bread crumbs
1.5 cups wheat germ
Pinch salt, pepper, parsley (optional)

You can peel the eggplant if you like. This is optional but I read that eggplant skin can be hard for little tummies to digest. That said, I peeled mine. Slice eggplant into approx 1/4 inch slices. Since the eggplant I got was so huge, I also cut the slices in half. Admittedly, I used my food processor to do the slicing.

You will need 3 separate bowls for dunking. Fill 1 bowl with beaten egg, another with milk and the last with the bread crumb and wheat germ and optional spices combined. I don’t typically cook with salt or pepper for Kamran so I did without the optional spice.

Take your slice of eggplant and first dunk into the beaten egg, then breadcrumb/wheat germ. Once you have applied this first coat, dunk into milk then bread crumb/wheat germ again. Repeat this for each slice.

There are a few ways to cook this. My preferred method for Kamran is to heat a skillet, spray with cooking spray and cook eggplant for 3 to 4 minutes each side until cooked through. Using the skillet means I can cook as I prep and it seems to take less time this way.

If you prefer, you can bake or deep fry. Of course, I can’t advocate deep fried food for a baby but I think it’s a fair method for an adult who doesn’t like eggplant much.

My son shocked me with how much he likes this recipe. He ate 6 slices in one sitting the first time I cooked it. Normally he eats about 3 slices with another food option combined.