Turkish Hünkar Beğendi - Beef or Lamb stew on aubergine béchamel
There are two stars in this show, the stew, and the aubergine puree, they both are centre stage, they are devoted to each other, together they work in harmony. A forkfull of combination exquisite, good enough for Sultans good enough for us.
Dish description: Turkish Hünkar Beğendi - Beef or Lamb stew on aubergine béchamel, medium difficulty, long slow cook for the meat. Spectacular.
I know I need to improve food pix on this plate, food porn pic fans, I apologise, anyway don't give up here. 'Cos if you've tasted Hünkar Beğendi maybe on holiday in Turkey and were wowed, read on. If you haven't, read on 'cos this dish will, err well, wow you.
Turkish recipes even national fare are unknown here, in Cumbria. I can make many Italian dishes, lots of Spanish cuisine, loads of spicy curries but when it comes to Turkish cuisine few, maybe ten different plates is my offering and Turkish cuisine it's said, is amongst the best in the world. Recently I've made their versions of 'mussaka' and their 'tava', which were just fantastic, see elsewhere on this blog.. Anyway this is 'Hünkar Beğendi' Ottoman in origin is steeped in hundreds of years of middle eastern heritage, the name of the dish means, 'the Sultan liked it', and yes, it's that good, a lovely long cooked meat stew with the fragrance of cinnamon, over a bed of contrast that is a bechamel and aubergine puree. No dish I've ever enjoyed so much has ever had such contradiction.
Okay meat and sauce time; lamb would be traditional but beef is fine, either way and I'm sure all this recipe is personal choice but in a little olive oil brown the meat, after a few minutes add minced garlic, then add some tomato puree and fry a min then add cinnamon powder, a cinnamon stick, a small amount of harissa, some red wine (reduce) and then a tin of chopped toms, seasoning leave to bubble away gently for some time. Next time and or making for a few guests I think a slow cooker would be a good idea.
What you are going for is a great stew. But it's not the star, this is a double act.
Next the aubergine puree...
So I rubbed olive oil over two aubergines, pricked them and put them in an air fryer intact for about fifteen mins then put them in a hot frying pan until they were very soft, another ten mins,
I was looking for a sort of smokiness, I didn't achieve it. A bbq would be great to achieve this but...
When cool remove the pulp from the aubergine and chop finely. Make a bechamel sauce, using olive oil, flour and stir till you can smell the cooking flour then add the chopped aubergine, mix, lower the heat, add milk and mix to make a thickish bechamel add grated parmesan and season, Mix and add milk till you have something like a thick porridge. Warm through for a few minutes.
Place some of the puree on a plate and then place some stew on top, serve.