Hunkar Begendi Food

HüNKAR BEğENDI, A CLASSIC TURKISH RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the aubergines over an open flame on a metal trivet and roast for about 15 - 20 minutes, turning from time to time, until the skin looks burnt and the aubergines are soft to the touch. You could also just place a sheet of foil over the gas flame, instead of a trivet. Leave to cool.
• Coat the lamb pieces with the flour, the chilli powder, the salt and a little freshly ground black pepper.
• Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan over high heat, add the lamb and sugar and brown the lamb pieces for 5 minutes, turning the lamb frequently.
• Lower the heat down to medium and tip in the onion slices and fry for 2 minutes, again, stirring frequently.
• Add the garlic and capsicum (green pepper) and cook for a minute, stirring.
• Now add the tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano and stir for 30 seconds to mix everything thoroughly.
• Add the stock and bring to boil.
• Lower the heat right down, cover and leave to simmer for 1 - 1 and a half hours, until the lamb is cooked right through and beautifully tender.
• The aubergines should be fairly cool now, scrape out the soft pulp and place in a chopper. Throw away the skins.
• Chop or blend to a smooth purée and set aside.
• Now, let's make some Bechamel Sauce. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the flour and whisk with a small whisk or wooden spoon for 2 minutes until the roux has thickened, is bubbling and gives off a lovely cooked aroma.
• Slowly, add the milk, whisking continuously. Be careful, the first drip will splutter.
• Cook the bechamel sauce for 4 - 5 minutes until it thickens to the consistency of custard.
• Take it off the heat and stir in both cheeses until they melt. Shouldn't take more than a minute.
• Now, stir in the aubergine purée, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper until it's all completely mixed in and you have a beautiful aubergine cheese sauce. Check the salt and add more if necessary.
• Stir in half the chopped parsley.
• You have 2 choices: serve the whole lot in a large platter or divide everything into individual plates. Whatever you go with, pour the smoky aubergine sauce onto a plate and top with the lamb stew.
• Scatter with the other half of the parsley and serve with plenty of bread.

HUNKAR BEGENDI - SULTAN'S DELIGHT (TURKISH LAMB STEW)

Steps:

• Season the pieces of lamb with salt and pepper. Dice the onion relatively finely and dice the pepper. Finely chop the garlic.
• Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for around 5 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the lamb chunks and brown on all sides. Then add the green pepper and garlic. Stir and cook for a couple more minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, thyme, oregano and tomato paste to the pot. Stir to mix through and cook a minute. Then add the stock/water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover with a lid, then reduce the heat so that the sauce is gently simmering. Leave to cook for around 1 hour, so that the lamb is tender. (You may want to have the lid only half-on for part of this time to help the liquid reduce a little.)
• Meanwhile, cook the eggplant. If possible, cook the eggplant on a grill/BBQ or over a gas burner. (You may want to cover around the burner with foil to catch any drips.) Alternatively, preheat the oven to 430F, prick the eggplant all over with a knife, and place it on a baking sheet or in a baking dish. Roast for around 40 minutes. In all cases, you are looking for the inside of the eggplant to become very soft, and if over grill/flame, the skin should be well-charred. Once cooked, leave the eggplant to cool so it is safe to handle and open.
• Once cooled, cut open the eggplant skin and scoop out the flesh. Either roughly chop and mash the flesh for a coarser texture, or blend it up for a smoother paste. In both cases, once chopped, try to drain off as much liquid as you can from the flesh as this can make it sour. If you want a really smooth puree, you can press the mixture through a fine strainer to remove the seeds.
• Make the bechamel: Melt the butter in a medium-small saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, add the flour. Stir as it cooks for a couple minutes and becomes gently nutty smelling.
• Gradually add the milk and stir or whisk after each addition to make a smooth paste. Cook a minute or two more, as needed, to thicken slightly.
• Remove the sauce from the heat, then add the cheese and stir through so that the cheese mixes in and melts. Add the eggplant puree and stir to mix evenly through. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste.
• To serve, either spread some of the eggplant sauce over the bottom of individual plates or all of it on the bottom of a serving platter. In both cases, spread it out so it creates a bit of a bowl in the middle to hold the stew. Add the lamb stew in the middle of the eggplant sauce and serve with bread on the side.

HUNKAR BEGENDI

Steps:

• Stew: Fry the onion in the oil till soft. Add meat and brown. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds longer.
• Add tomatoes, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Add water to cover and simmer with the lid on for about 1 or 1 1/2 hours, till meat is very tender.
• If necessary, add more water or let the sauce reduce a bit to get a good saucy consistency.
• Eggplant Sauce: Prick eggplants all over and roast in a very hot oven (500 degrees or as hot as your oven goes) for 30 minutes, until eggplants soften and skin chars. Cool and peel carefully.
• Put lemon juice in a bowl of water and put peelec eggplants in acidified water to keep them white.
• Melt butter in saucepan, add flour and stiur over very low heat for 2 minutes or until well-blended. Remove from the heat and add milk gradually, beating vigorously. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Cook ove rlow heat for 15 minutes, until sauce thickens.
• Drain the eggplants in a colander and squeeze out as much water and juice as possible. Chop in the colander and mash with a fork (I think this step is meant to allow additional drainage).
• Mix with the milk sauce until well blended. Return to the heat, add grated cheese, stir until melted and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
• Serve the stew with the eggplant cream in a ring around it. Serve with rice.

HUNKAR BEGENDI

Steps:

• Take 4 medium-sized eggplants and make a few holes in each of them with a knife and place them on the baking tray. Bring the oven's heat to 200C (390F) and bake them for about 20 minutes.
• After eggplants are baked and softened peel them and then mash them and set them aside.
• Bring the heat to medium level. Then; place the olive oil in a frying pan and add the leg of lamb meat cubes and sauté until tender (about 10 minutes).
• Add the finely chopped onions and sliced garlic cloves and continue to sauté for about 2 minutes.
• Add the peeled and diced tomatoes, ground black pepper, salt, and tomato paste and continue to sauté for about 3 minutes.
• Add the 2 cups of boiled water and mix them well and close the frying pan lid.
• Bring the heat to a low level and cook for about 20 minutes to let the meat soften.
• While the meat is cooking, it is time to prepare the 'beğendi' (eggplant puree) part of the dish.
• Bring the heat to a medium level. Then; melt french butter in a frying pan and add ground flour and stir for about 3 minutes until the roux has thickened and gives a cooked aroma.
• Add the baked and mashed eggplants to the frying pan and stir the mix for about 2 minutes.
• Slowly, add the whole milk to the mix and stir continuously for about 3 minutes.
• Add salt and ground black pepper and cheese to the bechamel sauce and stir until cheese melts. Usually, melting cheese shouldn't take more than a minute.
• For serving; you can either place the entire eggplant puree mix onto a big serving plate and place the top with the lamb stew or you can make the same with individual plates. In both cases, the eggplant puree mix will be at the bottom and the lamb stew will be at the top.

HUNKAR BEGENDI (TURKISH EGGPLANT (AUBERGINE) CREAM)

Steps:

• Grill eggplants whole without peeling them by holding over a flame and turning slowly, or prick skin in several places and set in hot oven.
• When the skin begins to break and the inside pulp feels soft, slip off the skin; discard sacs containing seeds and chop up pulp; put pulp in a saucepan.
• Mix lemon juice with pulp and simmer until very soft, stirring often (10-15 minutes).
• Meanwhile, melt butter, add flour to it and allow flour to brown.
• Beat the butter and flour mixture into the eggplant.
• Slowly add several tablespoons of hot milk and the nutmeg and continue beating until mixture resembles mashed potatoes.
• Lastly add several tablespoons of grated cheese and cook several minutes more.
• Serve immediately.