Meat Stuffed Eggplants / Karnıyarık
A very Turkish main dish often served with rice pilaf and cacik.
Servings 4 Servings
Calories 190kcal
Ingredients
Soaking
- 4 eggplants
- 1 teaspoon salt
- water to cover
Frying
- 2 long thin peppers
- 200 millilitres olive oil
Stuffing
- 150 grams ground meat lamb and/or beef
- 1 onions chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 green pepper
- 1 tomato peeled, chopped
- 4-5 stalks parsley chopped
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 pinch cumin
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Final Touch
- 4-5 stalks parsley chopped
- 1 tomato medium sized, sliced
- ½ tomato grated
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 150 millilitres water
Instructions
Brining
- Using a knife cut off the stems of the eggplants. Peel the eggplants vertically in stripes to look like striped pyjamas.
- If the eggplants are small use as whole, if long cut horizontally into half, if fat cut vertically into half.
- Cut a vertical slit in the middle of the eggplants without cutting all the way through.
- Soak the eggplants in salty water to brine. 1 tablespoon salt will be enough. Keep eggplants in this water for at least 15° minutes to get rid of the sourness and the black color of eggplants. If the eggplants are floating up put something heavy on top. When time is up, take them out, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.
Frying
- Use a large pan. Heat the olive oil slightly. Fry the eggplants over high heat for about 5 minutes. Turn them once in a while so they are brownish on all sides. When ready remove from the pan and set aside.
- Cut the long green peppers vertically into half, discard the stem and seeds and fry using the same pan. Set aside.
Stuffing
- Using the same pan add about 4 tablespoons/50 milliliters of olive oil. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent over medium heat.
- Add the crushed garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Cut off the stems and take out the seeds of the peppers. Chop to small pieces. Add to the onions. Sauté for another minute.
- Add the ground beef. Sauté mixing occasionally until the meat first leaves out and then absorbs back its water.
- Then add small chopped tomato and half of the chopped parsley.
- Season with cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and ground black pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Set aside.
Combining and Final Touch
- Place the eggplants back on the pan with the cut side up. Gently open up each cut with the back of a spoon to make them look like little boats. Then fill these holes with the meat stuffing. Then place a slice of tomato on each eggplant.
- Also add half long pepper on each eggplant.
- In a separate bowl mix a tablespoon of tomato paste and a grated half tomato and 150 millilitres water and salt. Pour slowly around the eggplants.
- Cook either on stove at medium heat or in the oven at 180° Celsius for about 15 minutes.
- Serve warm and garnish with the remaining chopped parsley.
Notes
You can do the final round of cooking in the oven if you prefer. Cook the stuffed eggplants in a pre-heated oven at 170° Celsius (325° F) for about 20 minutes until the eggplants are well done.
Check readiness by poking the ends of the eggplants with a knife. If the knife goes into the eggplant soft and smoothly the dish ready to be served.