Hello, Kugela! the Lithuanian country’s food! Which holiday wouldn’t be complete without it? Keep in mind that kugela is an art form, not merely a dish. Make your own Kugela statement by experimenting with different ingredients and methods. If desired, top the dish with a dollop of sour cream.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup olive oil, divided
- 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
- 2 red bell peppers, chopped
- 8 slices mozzarella cheese
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons tomato paste
- 8 anchovy fillets, chopped (Optional)
- 3 tablespoons capers, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Saute eggplant until each piece becomes saturated with oil. Use eggplant to line the bottom of a 3 quart casserole dish. Saute the red peppers until tender, and layer over eggplant in casserole dish. Top with mozzarella.
- Heat remaining olive oil, and cook onions and garlic until lightly browned and caramelized. Stir in stewed tomatoes, basil, and oregano and simmer 5 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add anchovy fillets, if using, and capers. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the mozzarella cheese in the casserole dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of sauce.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 481 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 30 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 1121 mg |
| Sugars | 22 g |
| Fat | 35 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I have had this recipe from you guys since 2014. I have made it several times and it never fails to disappoint. A truly delightful, taste sensation and is always used at every family birthday and celebration. Don’t bother with other recipes for this dish, this is the one and only.
Definitely leave out the sugar.
Reduced brown sugar to 2 Tbsp, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. We really loved it.
We have an abundance of eggplants in our garden. This was outstanding! I did reduce the sugar to only 1/4 cup and it tasted fine so I left it at that. We used canned diced tomatoes with the liquid and it worked well. Also liked that there was no need to salt the eggplant to remove moisture. That saves a half hour. Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for a few days. Ate the leftovees for lunch the next day.
I followed this recipe exactly as stated. Sorry but this one is not a keeper for my family. It was waaaaaay to sweet. Will not try again. When you review you must pick at least one star. I really wanted to give it zero.
Great recipe. Left out the anchovies only because I didn’t have any in the house. Easy to make with great flavor.
I used only half the recommended sugar and still found it too sweet. I’m sure there’s a better way to balance the enormous amounts of vinegar and sugar. Will be looking for another recipie.
Outstanding! This recipe is easy to make, and be easily adjusted for your own tastes. I did not use anchovies, and didn’t have capers on hand, but it still was terrific! You can cut back on the olive oil in the second half of the recipe.
This was especially rich flavored and different for a great change from regular eggplant parmigiana. Loved it!
I made this last night and OMG at first I thought it was too vinegary but after a few bites I couldn’t stop eating it! Like many others I left out the sugar and the capers and anchiovies but I will try them next time. So good!
Good stuff!
My husband & I really loved this recipe. I used veggies freshly picked from the garden, which I’m sure added to its excellence. I made some fairly minor changes – used fresh tomatoes (it’s summer, after all), green peppers as that’s what we had. I added about 1/4 c. or more raisins soaked in water and 1/4 c sliced olives, which I pulsed in the food processor together with the anchovies. I did not add salt, as I thought the cheeses would be salty enough. Although the recipe was quite time consuming, it was worth it! My husband was ecstatic and said we can have it as often as I like! Note to some previous reviewers – it is a pity to eliminate the capers and anchovies – after chopping them finely, they vanish into the dish and just add a wonderful flavor.
Very good…great for vegetarians out there. It really does use a lot of oil, though and I needed even more than called for to saturate the eggplant and saute the peppers. I also cut the brown sugar by half and used dried oregano. Anchovies and capers added a nice salty touch to the other very sweet elements. I served over penne. I would definitely make it again.
after a rocky start… i enjoyed making this for my wife on mothers day… she helped prep and i was the chef…
Very good and makes a pretty dish!
I’m glad I tried this recipe with the capers and anchovies! I just added a little bit at a time, and found that I used the amounts suggested in the recipe. Also, as others suggested, I went easy on the sugar and vinegars, adding only a tablespoon at a time until it tasted the way we like it.
Loved it! I’m not a fan of capers or anchovies so I omitted them, but it is fabulous without them and will definitely be part of my regular rotation. Because I omitted the saltiness that capers/anchovies would have added I also made a cut to the amount of brown sugar so that it wasn’t too sweet. Thanks for the recipe, I’m so happy I found it!
The sauce is delicious and I and used over eggplant rollatine instead of the original eggplant recipe provided. The vinegars & anchovies made it very tasty but I cut down the amount of brown sugar as I found it too be a bit too sweet 1st time around. It is one of our favorite pasta sauces now!
This is great dish. the sauce is amazing. I used fontina cheese because I didn’t have mozzarella. Family loved it and they don’t normally like eggplant.
Like several others, I made some changes to the recipe based on other comments. I reduced the brown sugar to 3 tablespoons, removed the anchovies, used only balsamic vinegar (didn’t have any red wine vinegar handy) and used only about 2 tablespoons of olive oil along with some olive oil spray during sauteing. (Way more healthy with less total fat!) I also added 1/4 cup of chopped kalamata olives, an 1/8 cup of chopped green olives and 3/4 of a cup of sauteed sliced white mushrooms. This was an amazingly good base for a recipe, and even better after sitting a day for the flavors to meld.
I made this dish last night for Valentines Day and it was amazing! I followed all the reviews and didn’t really measure my oil, just used enough to saute the veggies. It was the perfect amount! Everything about this dish was great, I even made extra sauce to use with chicken parmigiana…(my boyfriend wanted both chicken and eggplant). All I had to do was add s bit of vodka and heavy cream to the sauce, and a bit of tomato paste and it was amazing with the chicken. I would definitely recommend this recipe!