Dinner · 75 min · turkish

Hunkar Begendi (Lamb over Smoked Eggplant)

Lamb does the heavy lifting here, with eggplants rounding it out. A Turkish dinner that takes 75 minutes, start to finish. Each serving lands at 779 calories with 41g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. No specialty equipment and nothing hard to find at a regular grocery store.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb Lamb
• 2 large Eggplants
• 1 Onion
• 2 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1.5 cups Milk
• 3 tbsp Flour
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 0.75 cup Mozzarella
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Char the whole eggplants directly over a gas flame or under a fierce broiler, turning until the skin is blackened all over and the flesh collapses — about 20 minutes. The smoke is the entire point of the dish.
2. Cool, peel away the charred skin, and chop the smoky flesh fine. Squeeze out excess liquid so the puree stays thick.
3. For the begendi, melt the butter, whisk in the flour, and cook 2 minutes. Pour in the milk gradually, whisking into a thick béchamel, then fold in the eggplant and grated cheese. Season boldly.
4. Brown the lamb chunks hard, then braise with chopped onion, garlic, tomato paste, salt, and 2 cups water for 45 minutes until the meat surrenders and the sauce is rich.
5. Spoon a swoosh of the hot eggplant puree onto each plate and ladle the lamb stew over one side, letting the two meet in the middle.
6. Serve immediately — the contrast of smoky, creamy eggplant against the deep lamb stew is what made the sultan swoon.

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