Karnıyarık — Turkish Stuffed Aubergines with Spiced Lamb

⏱ 75 min · Serves 4

"Split belly" aubergines, fried until silky then stuffed with cinnamon-scented lamb, tomato and parsley, and baked under a strip of pepper and tomato. Deeply savoury, sweet and soft — scoop it up with pilav and yoghurt.

Per serving: 565 kcal · 25.0g protein · 22.0g carbs · 42.0g fat

Ingredients

• 4 medium aubergines (about 1.1kg)
• Sunflower oil, for shallow frying (about 250ml)
• Salt, for soaking and seasoning
• 400g lamb mince (or beef mince)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Turkish pepper flakes (pul biber)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 20g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 long green Turkish peppers (or 1 green pepper), cut into 4 strips
• 1 extra tomato, sliced into 8 rounds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 250ml hot water
• 1 tsp tomato purée (for the sauce)
• To serve: rice pilav and thick yoghurt

Method

1. Peel each aubergine in stripes, leaving the stalk on. Soak in heavily salted cold water for 15 minutes, then drain and pat very dry.
2. Heat 2cm sunflower oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat. Fry the aubergines, turning, for 8–10 minutes until golden and completely soft. Drain on kitchen paper.
3. Pour off most of the oil, leaving 1 tbsp. Fry the onion for 5 minutes until soft, add garlic and mince and brown well, breaking it up, for 6–8 minutes.
4. Stir in chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato purée, cumin, cinnamon, pul biber, black pepper and 1 tsp salt. Cook 5 minutes until thick and glossy, then stir through the parsley. Taste and season.
5. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan. Sit the aubergines in a baking dish. Slit each one lengthways from just below the stalk, leaving the ends intact, and press open to make a pocket.
6. Spoon the mince generously into each pocket, mounding it up. Top each with a strip of green pepper and 2 tomato slices.
7. Whisk 250ml hot water with 1 tsp tomato purée, 1/2 tsp salt and the olive oil; pour around (not over) the aubergines.
8. Bake 30–35 minutes, basting once, until the peppers are blistered and the sauce reduced. Rest 5 minutes and serve with pilav and yoghurt.