Stuffed Eggplants With Ground Beef (turkish)

[kurt]

ingredients:

1 lb (450-500 gr) eggplant
1 cup oil for frying
1 onion, chopped
200 gr (~half lb) ground beef, medium
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tomato, diced / 5 tbsp crushed or diced tomato
half tsp salt
quarter tsp cumin
quarter tsp black pepper

Sauce:
3 tbsp crashed tomato / 1 and a half tbsp tomato paste
half tsp sugar
quarter tsp salt
half cup warm water


Wash and peel the eggplants. If they are slim, cut them in half in length. If they are chubby ,cut them into four slices lengthwise. Then place them in a bowl and add water to cover the slices. Leave them in water for 15-20 minutes for better taste. Then take the slices and dry with a cloth.
Place the oil in a skillet and turn heat to high. Fry both sides of eggplants till they become soft. Do not over fry. Place the fried eggplants into a Pyrex dish and sprinkle some salt on them. With a spatula or spoon, smash them lightly to make them softer.
Place ground beef to a skillet and without adding oil cook until it changes its color. Add the chopped onions and sauté them for 2-3 minutes over low-medium heat. Then add the chopped pepper, tomatoes and salt. Saute for 3-4 minutes and add spices. Spread this mixture on the fried eggplants.
For the sauce, place the warm water, sugar, salt and tomato paste/ crushed tomatoes in a bowl. Mix them and pour onto the eggplants in Pyrex dish.
Preheat the oven to 375 -400 F (190-200 C) and bake for 18-20 minutes.

AFIYET OLSUN - BON APETIT!

[unicorn]

Hi Kurt. I will certainly try this version of stuffed eggplants.
The way I do it, is very similar, same ingredients. The difference is that I cut the eggplants in half, scoop out the inside of them, fry them and stuff them with the ground beef mixture, prepared the same way as yours. And before I bake them, I cover the top with white sauce (besamel). This is the Greek version. They are delicious.

[kurt]

Hi Unicorn,

obviously there are lots of similarities between greece and turkey.
The dolmadaki are almost the same like the turkish dolma, and tsatsiki and cacik, ... ;-) It´s always nice to talk about the variations.