Stuffed Eggplant

Eggplant is one of the key ingredients of the Mediterranean cuisine. Australians are very familiar with the Italian antipasto melanzane grigliate, eggplant thinly sliced lengthways, grilled and soaked in a marinade of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley and chilli; the Greek moussaka, sliced eggplant layered with a mince mixture and topped with a beschamel sauce and babagannoush, roasted and pureed eggplant mixed with tahini, garlic and olive oil.

But what they probably don't know is, for us Turks, eggplant is a vegetable for all seasons and occasions. We fry it as a whole, then stuff it with a flavoursome mince in winter or sauté of fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic in summer. We cube and cook with diced meat and potatoes in a simple tomato sauce or roast and purée it with a beschamel sauce and top it up with a meat stew to serve as a main. We roast and mix it with yoghurt and garlic or fry it in slices and top with a garlic yoghurt and tomato sauce to serve it as an an appetiser on a raki (national Turkish drink made from aniseed) table.  

I keep batches of roasted eggplant in the freezer at all times for emergencies in case I need to quickly whip up a purée as a side or a dip for last minute guests.

But as a true eggplant lover, I am always on the hunt for smaller and thinner eggplants to make other traditional Turkish delicacies such as the Karniyarik, which literally means split stomach.

The traditional way of making this dish is by peeling the eggplant and soaking it in a bowl of salted water to drain out the bitterness. The eggplant is then fried in oil until it is soft and brown, stuffed with a mince mixture and baked in the oven. And although the regular eggplants sold in supermarkets are great for roasting and slicing, you need small eggplants to give justice to this dish.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I am not a big fan of frying. Apart from the alarming amount of oil involved in the process, I find it easier and less of a hassle to bake, as you can simultaneously prepare the rest of the components while the oven is quietly doing most of the work. Also, for this particular dish, I find baking eliminates the soaking step as the bitter juices of the eggplant oozes out during the baking process.

The best accompaniment to this dish is pilav (Turkish style rice cooked in butter with the absorption method.) But if you are a small eater, than you can make do with just a simple green salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

This dish can be made a couple of days before and kept in the fridge until required. I generally prepare the dish the day before and decorate it just before baking on the day I serve it.


Karniyarik (Stuffed Eggplant)

Ingredients:

4 small eggplants
1 big brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
250 gr lean beef mince
2 green banana peppers
2 tomatoes
1/4 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil

Here is how:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan forced).

Grease a rectangular baking dish or pyrex with olive oil.

Wash and dry the eggplant and peel 3-4cm wide strip first on one side and then on the opposite side of the eggplant. This will serve as the top and bottom of our eggplant boats.

Rub the eggplant all over with a generous amount of olive oil and place them in the baking dish one of the two peeled sides facing down.

Bake them in the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes.

Take them out, drizzle them with olive oil again and put them back in the oven for a further 20 minutes or until they are brown and very soft when you press with a spoon. You can place a sheet of aluminium foil loosely on top to avoid burning. Take them out of the oven and put aside until they are cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, in a sauté pan, sauté the chopped onions, 1 finely chopped pepper with 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 4 minutes or until they are transparent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add 1 peeled and finely chopped tomato, tomato paste and the mince to the pan. Continue cooking by stirring the mixture until the mince is browned.

Add the parsley, salt and pepper and cook until the parsley is wilted. Turn off the heat and put it aside.

Using a knife make a 1cm deep slit lengthways along the middle of each eggplant and press the flesh gently to the sides and to the bottom with a tea spoon to create four oblong boats of eggplant.

Drain all the extra juice by slightly tilting the eggplant. (Do not discard this juice as we will bake the stuffed eggplant in its own juices at the final stage.)

Spoon the mince mixture into the eggplants evenly and decorate with the thin strips cut from the remaining pepper and tomato.

Put the stuffed eggplants in the dish and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the mince is slightly browned on top and the tomato and banana strips are slightly wilted.

Afiyet Olsun!