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Hunkar Begendi

Hunkar Begendi

Course Main Course
Cuisine Turkish
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Calories 467 kcal

Ingredients

For the Stew

  • 500 gram Leg of lamb with moderate fat cube cut
  • 3 Mid-sized tomatoes peeled and diced
  • 2 Mid-sized onions finely chopped
  • 4 Cloves of garlic sliced
  • 4 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 cups Hot water

For the Eggplant Puree

  • 4 Mid-sized Eggplants
  • 50 gram Cheddar cheese grated
  • 2 tbsp French butter
  • 300 ml Whole Milk
  • 2 tbsp Ground flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. 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.

  2. After eggplants are baked and softened peel them and then mash them and set them aside.

  3. 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).

  4. Add the finely chopped onions and sliced garlic cloves and continue to sauté for about 2 minutes.

  5. Add the peeled and diced tomatoes, ground black pepper, salt, and tomato paste and continue to sauté for about 3 minutes.

  6. Add the 2 cups of boiled water and mix them well and close the frying pan lid.

  7. Bring the heat to a low level and cook for about 20 minutes to let the meat soften.

  8. While the meat is cooking, it is time to prepare the ‘beğendi‘ (eggplant puree) part of the dish.

  9. 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.

  10. Add the baked and mashed eggplants to the frying pan and stir the mix for about 2 minutes.

  11. Slowly, add the whole milk to the mix and stir continuously for about 3 minutes.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

Recipe Notes

Note: Garnish it with washed and drained parsley leaves.