Karniyarik

Passport & Plate - Turkish Stuffed Eggplants (Aubergines)-Karniyarik

Turkey | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 6 photos

Ingredients
4 Italian or small ?eggplants
125 ml olive oil
2 ?small onions, finely diced
2 ?small cubanelle peppers, finely diced
300 g ground lamb or beef (You can do half and half)
500 g? tomatoes, finely diced, plus 4 slices ripe tomato
3 tbsp ?tomato paste
125 ml water
15 g chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
4 ?garlic cloves, minced or crushed
Himalayan pink salt or sea salt and black pepper
2 pinches of mixed ground cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, coriander and cloves (This is the magic blend of spices )

 

How to prepare this recipe
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using a small knife, peel each eggplant lengthways, in striped-pyjama fashion. Soak in the salt water so it wont change the color. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the eggplants over high heat for 5 minutes, until evenly browned all over, turning them regularly with tongs. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and fry over medium heat, stirring until soft. Add the cubanelle peppers and the crushed garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the lamb or beef, diced tomato, tomato paste, mixed spices and most of the parsley, reserving some for garnishing. Season with Himalayan pink or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. (The meat will continue cooking in the oven, so it doesn’t need to be fully cooked at this stage.) Place the eggplants on a baking tray, cut side up. Gently open the bellies, then sprinkle the insides with a little bit of salt. Spoon the meat filling into the belly of each eggplant, then cover each with a slice of tomato and a couple of pepper strips like in the pictures. Pour 125 ml water mixed with a tablespoon of tomato paste over the eggplants, bake for 45 minutes, or until the necks of the eggplants are tender. Garnish with the reserved parsley and serve hot with bulgur pilaf.

 

The story behind this recipe
The stuffed eggplant- Karniyarik (Split Belly) is a traditional Turkish dish that is everyone’s favorite in Turkey from the Ottoman Empire era that we inherited, and it is simply exquisite. It will change your opinions on eggplant dishes forever. It wasn’t any different in our household when I was growing up in Turkey as my mom made it quite often. When I was a kid, I never ate eggplants, I refused to put in my mouth expect the very delicious stuffing, I thought eggplants (aubergines) were from the outer space and they don’t belong to this world. Strange, dark purple veggie didn’t look like anything else that I know of, however, everybody else in my family enjoyed this dish and my mom kept making it consistently, she kept telling me “someday you will eat it and you will love it!” I thought she lost her mind saying that. I was about 11 years old, I invited a couple of girlfriends for a sleepover and my mom made her favourite stuffed eggplants with bulgur pilaf for dinner. I was so upset that she made this dish again as if she wants to torture me in front of my friends. As my mom served the dinner, the girls looked extremely happy, as this was their most favorite dish and started digging in their plates at no time. I said to myself, if they can eat it, so I can. I tried a couple of bites, and I was in heaven!!!!!! My mom still tells me this story to this day. That moment changed my life forever. Ever since, I always try everything, enjoy every type of cuisine, super adventurous with food and make fantastic dishes for my family and friends.