Turkish Lamb Stew with Eggplant Sauce, Hünkar beğendi

Hünkar beğendi is a traditional Ottoman dish consisting of a tomato-based lamb stew served over a creamy eggplant puree made with a bechamel sauce. The recipe is adapted from

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Ottoman, Turkish

Keyword: bechamel, eggplant, lamb, stew, sultan's delight, turkish

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the lamb stew:

1 ½ lb leg of lamb diced in roughly bite-sized pieces trimmed, boneless weight
¼ teaspoon salt approx
¼ teaspoon pepper approx
1 onion large or 2 medium
½ green pepper or 1 whole if small
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped tomatoes recommend fresh tomatoes, or if using canned, use crushed or finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 TBSP fresh, leaves only
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 TBSP fresh, leaves only
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup light stock eg chicken/vegetable or use water

For eggplant-bechamel sauce:

3 lb eggplant aubergine approx 3 med-large
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon flour
1 ¼ cups milk approx ideally warmed
1 ½ oz grated parmesan or cheddar or a blend of both

Instructions

Lamb Stew

Season the pieces of lamb with salt and pepper. Dice the onion relatively finely and dice the pepper. Finely chop the garlic.
Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for around 5 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the lamb and brown on all sides. then add the green pepper and garlic. Stir and cook a couple more minutes.
Add the tomatoes, thyme, oregano and tomato paste to the pot. Stir through to mix and cook a minute then add the stock/water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover with a lid then reduce the heat so that the sauce is gently simmering.
Simmer stew for approximately 1 hour until the lamb is tender. At the 30 minute mark, if there is still quite a bit of liquid, leave the lid only half-on to help reduce and thicken the sauce a little.

Eggplant

Meanwhile, cook the eggplant. If possible, cook the eggplant on a grill/BBQ or sitting over a gas burner (you may want to cover around the burner with foil to catch any drips. Alternatively, preheat the oven to 430F/220C, prick the eggplant all over with a knife and place it on a baking sheet or in a baking dish.
Roast for around 40 minutes. In all cases, you are looking for the inside of the eggplant to become very soft and if over grill/flame the skin should be well charred. Once cooked, leave the eggplant to cool down so that it is safe to handle when opened up.
Remove eggplant skin and place eggplant in a colander and allow to drain for 15-30 minutes to remove excess liquid. Then, either roughly chop and mash the flesh for a coarser texture, or blend up for a smoother paste. If you want a really smooth puree, you can press the mixture through a fine strainer to remove the seeds.

Bechamel Sauce

Melt the butter in a medium-small saucepan over a medium heat then once melted, add the flour. Stir as it cooks a couple minutes and becomes gently nutty smelling.
Gradually add the milk and stir or whisk in after each addition to make a smooth paste. Cook a minute or two more, as needed, to thicken slightly.
Remove from the heat then add the cheese and stir through so that it mixes in and melts. Add the eggplant puree and stir to mix through evenly. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste.

To Serve

Spread some of the eggplant sauce over the bottom of individual plates or all of it on the bottom of a serving platter. In both cases, spread it out with a slight shallow area in the middle to hold the stew. Add the lamb stew in the middle of the eggplant sauce and serve with bread on the side.

Notes