Description

Turkish stuffed eggplants with ground meat, tomatoes, and peppers (“Split Belly” eggplant)

Ingredients

• 4 medium eggplants
• 400g ground beef/lamb
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 green peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tbs paprika powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• Parsley, chopped
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 long green pepper for garnish

Preparation

1. Cut eggplants lengthwise, score the flesh in a diamond pattern, salt them and let rest for 30 min
2. Rinse eggplants and pat dry. Brush with olive oil
3. Bake eggplants at 200°C for 20-25 min until softened
4. Meanwhile, sauté onions until soft, add garlic and ground meat
5. When meat is browned, add peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste and spices
6. Cook filling until liquid reduces (~10 min)
7. Remove eggplants from oven, create a cavity by pressing down the middle
8. Fill each eggplant with the meat mixture
9. Top each with a slice of tomato and green pepper
10. Bake for another 15-20 min at 180°C
11. Garnish with fresh parsley

Tips

Similar to the Roasted Eggplant recipe, salting the eggplants helps remove bitterness. You can prepare the filling while the eggplants are resting with salt to save time. A variation to this recipe is the The Goat recipe.