Eggplant Kebab
Budget Recipes Vegetables Meat Dishes Vegetable Dishes Turkish
Soft, meaty eggplant pillows with a spicy filling.
Although the recipe is Turkish, I used ground pork because that's what I had left from a portion of green beans with ground meat. I also used Greek-style tomato sauce because it's the sauce I prepare most often in summer and it has aromas used in Turkish cuisine that are also found in my Turkish spice mix. This way, I saved some time. I've seen that some prefer to use tomato paste instead of sauce, but the results didn't satisfy me.
A small navigation error in the freezer had wonderful results. I confused the sweet pepper paste with the hot one and only realized after making the meat mixture. I thought I had ruined the dish, that it would be so spicy it would overpower the other flavors, but it turned out perfect. The filling was just spicy enough to pleasantly complement the sweetness of the eggplants.
Ingredients
2 eggplants (elongated type)
oil for brushing
100ml Greek-style tomato sauce
150ml water
1 semi-hot Bulgarian pepper (or 1 green hot pepper)
1/4 bell pepper (red)
salt
Filling
250g ground meat
1 small onion
1/2 tablespoon pepper paste (sweet or hot, or a mix of both to taste)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon Turkish spice mix
a few sprigs of parsley
a few sprigs of dill
1 tablespoon oil
salt
Servings: 2 (6 pieces)
How to prepare eggplant kebab
- Prepare the filling: sauté the onion in oil just until it softens slightly (about 5 minutes). Add the pepper and tomato paste and sauté for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from heat and add the Turkish spice mix.
- Pour the mixture above over the ground meat. Add the finely chopped herbs (reserve some for the end), add salt, and knead for a few minutes. Keep refrigerated until needed.
- Cut off the stem of the eggplants. Slice the eggplants lengthwise into slices about 1/2 cm thick (I used this mandoline to cut the slices). Brush the slices with oil on both sides. Heat a grill pan well and grill the eggplants for about 3 minutes on each side (just until they get grill marks and become flexible enough to roll, they don't need to be fully cooked). As you remove them from the grill pan, sprinkle the eggplants with a little salt.
- Take two eggplant slices at a time, making sure they are about the same size. Place one over the other crosswise (see photo 5). Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center and level it (see photo 6). Lift the opposite edges of the bottom slice (see photo 7). Then lift the other two edges and flip the packet with the wrapped side down (see photo 8). Place the packet in a heat-resistant dish large enough to hold all packets without being crowded. Repeat until you finish all the eggplant slices.
* my dish is 25 x 15 cm and it was at the limit for 6 packets, they were a bit too crowded - Cut the bell pepper into strips and insert them between the packets.
- Mix the tomato sauce with water and pour it around the edge of the tray. Sprinkle the reserved herbs on top. Place the hot pepper on top.
- Bake in the oven at 190°C for 35-40 minutes.
Ground meat, sautéed onion with spices, and herbs
The filling
Eggplant slices on the grill pan
Grilled eggplant slices
Overlapping two eggplant slices crosswise
Placing the filling in the center
Lifting the edges of the bottom slice
Lifting opposite edges and flipping the packet seam-side down
Packets in the baking dish
Pouring the sauce and decorating with peppers
Fresh out of the oven
