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Stuffed Eggplant
This is a great dinner party dish. It can be prepared in advance up to the filling of the eggplants. If you are refrigerating you will need to add 10 minutes to the cooking time. As well, this dish can be made vegetarian, refer to the notes below.
This is an easy dish to prepare.
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4people | 30minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 1hour |
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Ingredients
- 4 eggplants*
- 1/2cup olive oil
- 4cloves garlicsliced
- 4 tomatoessmall, sliced
- 2 bullhorn chiliessliced lengthways in half*
- 1/2cup boiling water
- pinch paprika, mildoptional
Filling
- 2 onions, brownmedium, finely diced
- 2 bell peppers (capsicums), greensmall, finely diced
- 1/2lb ground (minced) lambor ground (minced) beef*
- 2 tomatoesmedium, finely diced
- 2tbsps pepper paste*
- 1/2cup parsleyfinely chopped
Instructions
- Using a small knife, peel 4 wide vertical strips off each eggplant, striped-pajama fashion. Cut each eggplant in half lengthways.
- Heat the olive oil and shallow fry the eggplants over a medium-high heat until browned all over. You may need to cook in batches, depending on the size of your pan. Remove the eggplants and drain on kitchen paper. Reserve any remaining olive oil.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 F (180 C).
- In the same pan over a medium heat, fry the onions for a few minutes stirring until translucent.
- Add the bell peppers and cook, stirring, for a few minutes.
- Add the beef or lamb mince and cook, stirring, for a further 2 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes, pepper paste and half the chopped parsley to the mixture. Season with pepper and salt. Stir the mixture for a further 5 minutes and put aside to cool.
- Place the reserved eggplants in a low casserole dish, cut side up. Using a knife, slice each eggplant vertically, about 2/3 of the way through and gently prise open the sides to widen the eggplant. Season with salt and gently press the sliced garlic into the flesh. Then fill each eggplant with the reserved filling.
- Top each eggplant with the sliced tomatoes and sliced chilli. Pour the 1/2 cup of boiling water around the eggplant. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place in the oven for 45 minutes.
- To serve, sprinkle the remaining parsley and paprika, if using. Serve with a green salad and garlic yogurt.
Recipe Notes
In Turkey, we used long skinny eggplants. The instructions on the cutting of the eggplants work for the egg-shaped eggplants we normally see.
Use small green chillies if you can’t source bullhorn chillies and de-seed them if you prefer a milder taste.
Lamb mince is the more authentic Turkish selection but beef mince works just as well. You can substitute Turkish pepper paste with tomato paste.
Garlic yogurt is a common accompaniment with many Turkish dishes. To make, finely chop some garlic and add to yogurt. Simple.
We have cooked this as a vegetarian dish by omitting the mince and substituting with red bell peppers (capsicums). And it is just as good!
https://compassandfork.com/recipe/turkish-stuffed-eggplant/
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https://compassandfork.com/recipe/turkish-stuffed-eggplant/ |