Creative baby dinner: Aubergine Parmigiana

This is one of my favourite meals. I must admit this is not a quick dish but the time is definitely worth it because this is absolutely delicious! Baby loves this dish and we love it! There are different ways to make parmigiana and I’ve found that by frying the aubergines at the beginning gives the most tasty outcome!

Preparation + cooking time = roughly 1 hour

Ingredients 

2 garlic cloves

2 large aubergines

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes (choose one with no salt or just a trace)

Large handful fresh basil

1 mozzarella ball

Sunflower oil 

Parmesan or vegetarian substitute 

Method 

1. Wash the aubergines and slice 0.5-1cm apart.
2. Put one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and place as many aubergine slices in as possible. Fry on both sides for a few minutes until each slice has softened and browned. A fork should be able to go through easily once done. 
3. Lay the cooked pieces on a plate and keep adding new slices to fry. This method uses a lot of oil so add more oil whenever needed. The frying process should take around 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 190.
5. Meanwhile, fry the garlic in another frying pan and when browning add the chopped tomatoes. Heat for 5 minutes.
6. Chop up the basil and add to the pan. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat. This will bring some amazing flavour to the dish so the more basil the better!
7. When all the aubergine slices have been fried it is time to put everything into a big oven dish. Add a little of the tomato mixture on the base of the dish and cover with a layer of aubergine slices. Keep adding another layer of tomato and aubergine slices and finish with a layer of tomato. 
8. Slice the mozzarella and add to the top of the dish. Add a sprinkling of parmesan or vegetarian substitute for more flavour.
9. Bake for about 25 minutes. Check that the food is soft enough for baby. Mash/chop food depending on baby’s age/teeth.
10. Serve with bread and green salad for adults and rice or other green vegetables for baby. 

 Enjoy the meal  :)