Healthy Cooking with Kimba: Patlican Sandwichs – Armenian Style Eggplant Parm

I remember eating this as a child when visiting my grandmother on Sundays at her beach house in Cape Cod. The delicious aroma of eggplant shallow-frying in olive oil would be wafting through the house when we arrived. Instead of serving eggplant baked in the oven over pasta, Armenians prefer sliced and fried eggplant as a sandwich filling with a thick slice of tomato and some feta cheese. In the old country it would have been the thin lavash bread but I remember my grandmother cheating and using hamburger buns, probably because that was more pleasing to small children, although we were eating eggplant so…. In this recipe I have changed out the olive oil for avocado oil which has a higher smoke point and thus it is less likely to burn during shallow frying.

What do you need?

Yield: 4 to 6, 1 sandwich servings

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 whole large egg, beaten
• 2 cups plain panko
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large Italian eggplant, sliced into rounds about ¼ inch thick
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup avocado oil
• ½ cup Jajek (Armenian Yogurt Dip) or Tzatziki (Greek style yogurt dip)
• 4–6 ciabatta rolls, sliced for sandwiches, toasted
• 1 heirloom tomato, thickly sliced
• 1 (6-ounce) block feta cheese

What do you do?

1. Place a colander on a sheet tray or plate. Line colander with eggplant slices and very liberally salt to get the slices to sweat. Let sit on counter for 1 hour.
2. After one hour, wipe salt off of each slice of eggplant with paper towels. Set slices of eggplant aside.
3. Place the flour and egg in 2 separate wide, shallow bowls.
4. In a food processor fitted with the “S” blade, pulse together the panko, basil, and oregano until finely ground. Transfer to a third wide, shallow bowl.
5. Season the eggplant slices with the salt and black pepper and then coat them using the standard breading procedure: Dredge a slice of eggplant in the flour and then shake off any excess. Dip the floured eggplant slice into the egg wash and then submerge it in the panko. Shake off any extra breading and set the breaded slice of eggplant on a wire rack. Repeat until all slices are breaded.
6. In a sauté pan over high heat, warm the oil. While the oil heats up, set out a wire rack over a sheet tray to drain the eggplant slices as they come out of the pan.
7. Once the oil is hot, add as many slices of eggplant to the pan as will comfortably fit. Fry, flipping once, until the eggplant slices are golden brown about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to the wire rack. Work in batches until all the eggplant slices are fried. Remove from the heat.
8. Turn the block of feta cheese on its side. Using plain dental floss, cut the cheese into long, thin rectangles.
9. Spread 1 to 2 tablespoons Jajek on the bottom of each ciabatta roll as a condiment. Add 1 tomato slice, 1 feta cheese slice, and 2 to 3 slices of the eggplant to each sandwich and top with the other side of the roll.
10. Serve.

Perfect for busy barn days when you want something hearty and homemade. Crispy eggplant, fresh tomato, and creamy feta make every bite satisfying.

Are you interested in healthy eating?
Click this link for more articles by Kimberley Maloomian on healthy nutrition.