Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Aubergine Purée

Name: Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Aubergine Purée (Hünkâr beğendili köfte)
Yield: Serves 4-6
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 lb/450 g minced beef; 2 hot green peppers or 1 green chilli, kept whole; salt and freshly ground pepper; 5 cloves garlic, crushed with salt; 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar; 1 teaspoon kırmızı biber; 1 onion, finely chopped; 4 cloves garlic, crushed with salt; 2 onions, grated; 5 tomatoes, skinned and chopped; 4 aubergines; ½ pint/300 ml milk; 2 tablespoons plain flour; 1 tablespoon butter; 4 oz/120 g kaşar peyniri, grated; small bunch of parsley, chopped; sunflower oil for frying; 2 tablespoons plain flour for rolling; 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 tablespoons olive oil; ½ teaspoon salt

Hünkâr beğendili köfte

Preparation info

Serves
4-6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Classic Turkish Cooking

By Ghillie Basan

Published 1995

About

A classic Istanbul dish, a relic of the Ottoman Empire; literally translated as köfte with ‘Sultan’s Delight’. The beğendi component is the aubergine purée, which can also be served with a number of other grilled meat and köfte dishes. The meatballs and sauce can be prepared ahead of time, but the beğendi is best served fresh. You can replace kaşar peyniri with Parmesan.

Ingredients

Asia
Turkey
Main course
Istanbul
Mediterranean

Ingredients

Method