How to Cook Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese

This eggplant dish is called “melanzane a frughetti” in Italy, meaning “eggplant mushrooms”. This is a staple of Neapolitan cuisine. You can serve it as a side dish for meat or fish, or as the main dish. Buttery, somewhat bitter eggplant, tomato and Mozzarella cheese balls work together to create a delicate, slightly zesty and mouth-watering dish.

Ingredients for Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese

  • 3-4 eggplants
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 250 g Mozzarella
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
Ingredients for Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients for Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese

Cooking Instructions

  1. Wash eggplants, trim off the ends and cut along in half.
  2. Scoop out cores and cut eggplants into 1 inch-thick dices.
  3. Pour enough olive oil in a frying pan to cover the bottom and fry eggplant dices for about 15 minutes.
  4. Fry until brown. When frying, eggplant absorbs a lot of cooking oil so add more if needed.
  5. Transfer fried eggplant dices into a bowl.
  6. Saute chopped garlic in the leftover oil.
  7. Stir in chopped tomatoes, add salt to taste and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
  8. In the meantime, quarter Mozzarella cheese balls.
  9. Then add eggplant dices into the tomato sauce and simmer everything together for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off.
  10. Put hot eggplant dices in plates, pour with the sauce over and top with Mozzarella.
  11. Stir everything slightly to soften Mozzarella, which adds a special taste to the dish.
  12. Serve hot.
Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese

Eggplants with Mozzarella Cheese