AN OTTOMAN CLASSIC: SULTAN’S DELIGHT /Tender lamb stew on roasted eggplant puree / Hünkar beğendi

#merveodabasi #sultansdelight #hunkarbegendi #hünkarbeğendi
Warning this is Not Kebab!

Delizia del Sultano: Spezzatino con purea di melanzane

Today we have an amazing meal from Ottoman Cuisine: Hünkar Beğendi: (the name means that the sovereign/sultan liked it), shortly: ‘sultan’s delight’ The history of this meal dates back several centuries. It is one of the classic and regional Turkish meals. You don’t need many ingredients! Tender lamb meat meets with the smokey cheesy eggplant puree, it is loaded with flavors. It is definitely worth trying.

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Lamb Stew:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
300 g cubed lamb meat
1 onion (diced)
1 green pepper (diced)
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 medium size tomato (grated)
½ a glass of warm water
Salt & black pepper to taste

For the Roasted Eggplant puree/spread;
30 gr of butter
30 gr of flour
2 roasted/skinned eggplants
½ a glass of whole milk
Salt & Nutmeg to taste
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (It is traditionally done with grated Turkish cheese ‘Eski Kaşar’ or grated Turkish hard mature cheese (Kaşar), but it is not possible to find it in Italy 🙁 )

Instructions:
Start with roasting 2 medium size eggplants. Roast them in the oven for 1 hour in 220 C degrees. While they are doing their job, we can work on preparing the lamb stew. Seal the lamb meat in a medium size pot, this helps them keep their juice inside. Then add the chopped onions, one chopped green pepper and 1 grated tomato inside the pot. Stir the mix a little bit. Lastly, add half a glass of warm water to the pot and cover the lid, cook it on a low fire for 1 hour. If you realize, I have not added the salt yet, I always add the salt later when I cook meaty things. They become very stiff while cooking when salt added. I add it after it cooks. I am showing you a trick on how to peel eggplants easily in the video. That is, when they are out of the oven put them in a big bowl and cover them with a nice cling film, put it aside for 30 minutes to chill. This helps us peel them so easily. When they are cold enough for us to peel, go ahead and do it! Some people chop them, but I do not. Because they are already so mushy, we do not need to. Start preparing the pot for ‘Beğendi’ which is the eggplant base. Put 30 grams of butter and melt it. Then add, the flour, mix it well as we make Beschamelle. When they are well combined, add roasted eggplants in it. Mixing is a little hard in here. We need to make sure that everything is well distributed and reach a creamy roasted eggplants base. It takes around 5-6 minutes. Then, transfer it to a nice plate, pour half a glass of cold milk in it and wait for the magic happens in 30 minutes. It absorbs the milk and become very yummy! Ready to be served. When the lamb stew is well cooked, serve them together with chopped parsley on top to garnish.

Music:That Day
Musician: Jeff Kaale