Spiced Mince with Eggplant Yogurt Sauce
Ali Nazik
A bold flavoured meaty meal, juxtaposed nicely against the cool, creamy eggplant yogurt sauce. Gaziantep lays claim to inventing this meal, although it is served and enjoyed all over Turkey. The quantities of spice might seem a little much, particularly the generous quantity of black pepper – but hold your breath and push through. You won’t be disappointed.
For the Eggplant and Yogurt Sauce
5 thin eggplants
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups yogurt
1 tsp salt
For the Spiced Mince:
sml knob butter
500g lamb or beef mince (kuzu dana kıyma)
2 red bull-horn chillis (kırmızı biber), deseeded and chopped finely
2 yellow bullhorn chilli (çarlston biber), deseeded and chopped finely
3 tbsp sweet pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası), or tomato paste
1 tsp chilli flakes (pul biber)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (karabiber)
1 tsp salt
few sprigs parsley, finely chopped
PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 220C
1. Place the eggplants on an oven tray and put in the oven for 20-30min until skin is blackening.
When done, put the eggplants in a plastic bag and tie it shut. Leave to sit for 5 minutes or so to allow the skins to steam and become soft and easy to peel.
2. Melt the butter in a large frypan, and add the mince. Stir, breaking up the mince into small pieces as you go.
3. When most of the mince is browned, add the bullhorn chillis, sweet pepper paste, chilli flakes, ground black pepper and salt. Stir until well combined, then leave to fry until the diced peppers are soft, stirring occasisonally.
4. Grab your eggplants, chop off the stems and peel away the skin. Dice the eggplants, put in a bowl and stir through the yogurt, garlic and salt.
5. Spoon the eggplant/yogurt sauce generously on each plate. Spoon the spiced mince on top.
Serve with a side salad and crusty bread.
SERVES: 4 (with leftovers)
VARIATIONS:
A common variation is to serve the mince as meatballs on top of the eggplant sauce. Simply mix all of the spiced mince ingredients (omitting the bull-horn peppers) together before cooking. Fashion into slightly flat meatballs, then fry and continue as above.
A second popular variation is to serve the dish with chunks of lamb in place of the spiced mince.
Simply buy the same quantity of lamb leg meat (kuzu but) and cut into 1 cm cubes. Mix in the same ingredients as for the mince recipe, again omitting the bull-horn peppers, then allow to marinate for 1 hour. Then, thread your lamb pieces on a skewer, fry in a frypan or on a BBQ, then serve on a bed of eggplant yogurt sauce as before.