Hünkar Beğendi A Classic Turkish Recipes

HüNKAR BEğENDI RECIPE - SULTAN'S DELIGHT

Steps:

• Melt your butter over a medium heat in large saucepan.
• Now add your lamb and stir it round until it starts to brown.
• Once your lamb is browned all over, add your onion and garlic and stir.
• Cook for 5 minutes or so, until your onion starts to sweat.
• Now add your chopped tomatoes, tomato paste (salça) and one cup of hot water.
• Stir everything together.
• Add your thyme/oregano (kekik), salt & pepper and stir.
• Once your stew is simmering, put a lid on the pan and turn the heat to low.
• Simmer your stew for around 1 hour, until the lamb has softened and your sauce has thickened.
• Remove from the heat and make your 'beğendi' puree...
• Preheat your oven to 240 degrees.
• Prick your aubergines with a sharp knife and place on a baking tray in the centre of the oven.
• Bake the aubergines until they are soft to touch (around 15-20 minutes).
• Remove from the oven and leave them to cool.
• Once cooled, make a slit along the length of each aubergine.
• Scrape out the pulp with a teaspoon.
• Discard the skins and as many of the seeds as possible.
• Chop up the pulp.
• Now melt your butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
• Once melted, gradually add your flour, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
• After you've added all your flour, your mixture will be relatively solid and now you can start to add your milk.
• Add your milk a little at a time, again, stirring continuously so that the mixture remains smooth.
• Keep going until you have used up all of your milk and you have a smooth, milky mixture.
• Keep stirring and after a couple of minutes, you will notice the sauce start to thicken.
• Once the sauce has started to thicken, add your aubergine. Keep stirring, gently.
• Now add your grated cheese and keep stirring until your 'beğendi' sauce has thickened enough to make a suitable nest for your lamb.
• To serve, share the beğendi sauce between your plates, making a little nest in the centre of each.
• Now spoon the lamb stew into the nest and allow the sauces to run over the aubergine puree.
• Sprinkle the parsley over the lamb and serve up your Sultan's Delight.

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.