Chicken and aubergine 'parma', a variation on melanzane di parmigiana

Chicken parma is as common in Australia as meat pies or a burger “with the lot”. It’s the number one meal in every pub and in many homes and you only have to eat it once to see why. Aussies love a diminutive, so as well as calling it a chicken parma it’s sometimes called a parmi or a parmy, and things can get pretty heated when Australians from different states argue that their chosen diminutive is the right one, or the best one.

A YouGov poll (yes, there was actually a YouGov poll about it) found that Queenslanders prefer to call it a parmi spelt with an ‘i’, while in Victoria as many as 72% of people polled called it a parmy, with a ‘y’. Why do these things matter? I have no idea — nor the time to find out.

The tradition really comes out of the Italian diaspora (Australia has a sizable community of expatriate Italians). Everywhere outside of Australia, it is commonly called Chicken Parmesan or Chicken Parmigiana.

The original Italian dish on which it is based is melanzane parmigiana: brinjals (melanzane in Italian) baked with rich tomato sauce and melting cheese. Americans switched it over to chicken, and that happened in Australia too, although doubtless you can also get the original in both countries.

It’s doubtless because South Africa has a much smaller Italian population that the tradition never took hold here. But this is an age of food and recipes travelling from one country to another, just as we humans fly off to far-flung places when we can afford to. So there’s no reason why we cannot take it on.

Let me share a recipe with you so that you can see why this is a good idea. My recipe is not traditional and there’s no reason why it has to be. It’s a concept that you can be creative with.

And here’s my own switch-up: I used both chicken and brinjals (which Americans prefer to call eggplants and other nations such as Britain call aubergines). And then I rested the baked chicken and brinjal dish on top of a delicious slice of garlicky aubergine too. I don’t remember eating a more delicious parma, parmi or parmy anywhere.

Ingredients

4 filleted chicken breasts, sliced through the middle as when butterflying them, so you are left with two skinny chicken fillets per breast

500 ml home made tomato sauce (recipe described below)

1 medium onion

1 x 410 g tin chopped Italian tomatoes

1 x 115 g tub or sachet tomato purée

4 cloves garlic

4 thyme sprigs

4 oregano sprigs

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

2 or 3 brinjals (aubergines) depending on size

200 g grated Mozzarella

Finely grated Parmesan

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Basil leaves for garnish

Method

To make the tomato sauce, sauté the chopped onion and 2 of the chopped garlic cloves in olive oil until translucent, add the tomato puree and braise for two minutes, stirring, then add the can of chopped tomatoes and red wine vinegar with the fresh herbs. Seas0n to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer gently for half an hour for the flavours to develop. Be careful that it doesn’t catch or reduce too much. If it does, add a little water and reduce further.

Fry the brinjal slices gently in olive oil with the remaining 2 garlic cloves and a little salt and pepper until just tender.

Fry lightly salted chicken breast slices in olive oil on a gentle heat until just cooked (they will cook further in the oven).

Lay chicken slices in an oven pan, top each with brinjal slices, then top with the tomato sauce and grated mozzarella. Bake in a 200℃ oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly golden.

Serve with a grating of Parmesan and ripped basil leaves. DM

Illustrative photo by Wikimedia Commons.

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.