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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Veggie Wednesday ~ Eggplant Pizza


Time sure flies by. It seems like yesterday when I finished the month long marathon based on global cuisine and it's time now for another month long marathon. For the uninitiated, we, a group of bloggers post a dozen 'theme' based recipes each month and do 'month' long blogging during April and September months. The blogging marathon event is the brainchild of Srivalli's and anyone interested to learn more / participate in the future events can check the link below for the details. This time the group chose to go with the 'baking' theme - 'Fire up your oven' and Valli decided not to impose any sub-themes to make the participants' lives easier. However bloggers are free to come up with their own themes for this event as long as they stick to baking.

And what an irony! It turns out that going with sub-themes is more stress free. I kept procrastinating until the last minute being not able to decide what to cook. Lists were made only to come up with a new one each day. And I was so fed up that I finally decided to bake some dishes that I thought my family would love and come up with themes based on those and it seemed to work somehow. I have yet to bake 1/3 of the dishes and hopefully I would be able to present the dishes in the way I have planned.

The first one in the series is going to be these eggplant pizzas. One idea that kept popping in my mind was 'flour-less baking' when I was planning for this event and around the same time I came across these on MSN website. A little google search enlightened me that the idea/ recipe has been in circulation for years or decades now. I prepared these keeping my husband in mind since he is an ardent fan of that vegetable while the rest at home are not so enthusiastic about it. It is a gluten-free and less guiltier option over the traditional flour based pizzas. They look cute as single serving appetizers or can go in a sandwich and are a treat for eggplant lovers. 

The original recipe mentions to use 1 inch thick eggplant slices but  I used 1/2 inch thick slices. To see how 1 inch ones work, I cut a couple of slices in that size too. And my recommendation is to go with less than 1/2 inch ones. I skipped spinach leaves as my husband is not fond of those and used a basil - oregano tomato sauce. The base is not going to be very crispy but can still hold the fillings and the sauce.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, sliced a little thicker than 1/4 inch (I had about 14 slices and updating the info.)
1/2 - 1 tsp. salt to taste
8 oz. tomato sauce 
Mozzarella cheese as needed
14 - 15 grape tomatoes, sliced
Chili flakes (optional)

Method: (Details in the parenthesis are my recommendations.)
* Preheat oven to 425 deg F.
* Arrange the eggplant slices on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle salt over the slices and bake them for about 15 - 20 minutes. (Eggplant slices can be lightly brushed with olive oil before placing in the oven. Flip them halfway through baking.)
 
* Remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn on the broiler setting. Spread about a tsp of sauce over the eggplant slice and sprinkle cheese over it. Arrange the grape tomato slices evenly (and any other vegetables you want to use as toppings) over the cheese. Sprinkle chili flakes if using.
(If you feel the eggplant slices are not going to be cooked perfect, they can be baked until the cheese melts instead of broiling.)

* Broil for about 3 to 4 minutes. Keep an eye while broiling as they can burn pretty fast.
* Serve warm immediately, sprinkling some more red chili flakes if needed.

Comments

24 comments:

Pavani said...

Idea of flour less baking crossed my mind too Suma, but by that time I was knee deep in flour and yeast ;-)
Awesome eggplant pizzas. You know I'm going to try these, right?
Looking forward to all your bakes this month.

Foodiliciousnan said...

This surely is a treat for egg plant lovers! I'm not a big fan of the vegetable, but my Hubby and son both like it. Will make this for then sometime! Thanks for the tips on the thickness

Varada's Kitchen said...

Novel idea! Not a fan of eggplant but I love the idea of using a vegetable as a base with pizza toppings. Zucchini might work well too.

Usha said...

i would love this flour less pizza. Great start to the bm and looking forward to your flourless bakes.

Harini R said...

Very cute looking pizzas! Good idea of using eggplant as the base! Looking forward to all your bakes.

vaishali sabnani said...

So so tempting Suma...only if I could eat it as well..oh the allergy to eggplants can be bad, but I will definitely try these for the rest of the family. Awesome!

Padmajha said...

I love this veggie and this was on my list actually.Then used up the brinjal for another recipe!Your pics have tempted me to make them.And love your flourless bakes theme.Looking forward to your other posts :)

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said...

This would be definitely something that my family would love. I really like the idea of using flour less base for the pizza. I am bookmarking this recipe :)

Priya Suresh said...

Those bite sized pizza rocks, such a pretty attractive eggplant pizzas.

Kalyani said...

Trust you to come up with something totally different.. Flour free bakes .. How novel is that ?? all of us love eggplant and pizza too !

DO u think Baingan bharta type brinjals will work here ?? bookmarking to try !

Kalyani said...

..... and Voila ! I already made this :-)) thanks a ton :-))

Unknown said...

Suma I have tasted this some where but where I forgot... They taste sipmly superb. you made a wonderful theme looks so colorfull and delicious with that cheese...

Srividhya said...

Very nice suma. I love all the recipes with eggplant. (of course vegetarian ones). This reminds me of the egg plant parmegiana that we get in Italian restaurants

Nalini's Kitchen said...

Nice idea of using eggplant as pizza base,looks so tempting..perfect bite size pizza.

Saraswathi Ganeshan said...

Cute bite size party appetizer with eggplant is something interesting but kids will sure grab these because of tempting cheese topping. So inviting:)

Srivalli said...

I had wanted to make this for some previous theme, couldn't do it..yours look so lovely suma..flourless baking sounds great too..maybe we can have that as a theme as well..:)..Looking fwd to your bakes..

Sneha's Recipe said...

These are on my to do list, but somehow have not got to making them still, they are tempting.

Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen said...

Delicious Suma, i have these in my list for this BM!!! Though i m not sure how my people will take this, i m definitely trying it atleast for myself.

Archana said...

Awesome Suma. I love the bake. Wish I had this idea when I made my eggplant.

Unknown said...

that is a brilliant idea,... surely tempting and looks so elegant.. I am trying this...

Unknown said...

That's really a wonderful thought to go flourless for pizza , looks so yummy suma , I want them right away :) tempting start !!

veena said...

This is a wonderful idea. Looks nice

The Pumpkin Farm said...

this is perfect for people preferring to go on low carbs and yet want to enjoy a pizza..lovely idea and well executed

The Pumpkin Farm said...

Suma they look gorgeous and better than store bought ones...i am goign tofollow the recipe to T for this one when i make them soon