Baked Eggplant Rolls

Monsoon is here and that calls for warm comfort food. These Baked Eggplant Rolls are the perfect dish to cozy up on the couch with. Ensconced between layers of homemade tomato sauce, the eggplant rolls are filled with a classic Italian combination of ricotta (cottage cheese/paneer) and lightly cooked spinach. If you like the sound of that, try this Healthy Spinach and Ricotta Dip as well!

You can use your own tomato sauce or make my Italian Pomodoro Sauce recipe. Using the same concept, you can also make this dish using zucchini.

More spinach dishes:

1. Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna

2. Healthy Spinach and Ricotta Dip

3. Quiche with Roasted Tomatoes, Spinach and Feta

What you need:

2 medium eggplants

Olive oil, for brushing

200 gms paneer

1 bundle spinach, finely chopped

1 cup Italian tomato sauce (click here for the recipe)

3 tbsp Parmesan or cheddar cheese, grated

Salt, pepper, chili flakes to taste

Fresh basil leaves, to garnish

Putting it together:

Slice the eggplant lengthwise into strips approx. ¼ inch. Discard the slices from the edges.

Brush both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 200 C for 25 mins. Put the baked eggplants aside.

To make ricotta, blend the paneer with 1 tbsp water, till creamy.

In a bowl, combine the ricotta or fresh paneer, spinach and season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.

To make the rolls, place about ½ tbsp of the spinach ricotta mix on one end of an eggplant strip and spread slightly. Roll tightly, beginning from the end which has the cheese.

In a baking tray, spread the tomato sauce. Place the rolled eggplants and top it with more tomato sauce. Sprinkle parmesan or cheddar on top.

Bake covered with foil at 200 C for 20 mins and open for another 10 mins.

Garnish with fresh basil.