Name: Sultan’s Delight (Hünkar Beğendı)
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 medium onions, diced (500 grams total); 1 kilogram boneless lamb chop, cut into 2- or 3 cm (¾- or 1-inch) cubes; ¼ cup butter (or 100 milliliters/6¾ tablespoons olive oil); 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 green bell pepper (85 grams), diced; ½ tablespoon salt; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 medium tomatoes (330 grams total), peeled, seeded, and diced; 1 teaspoon tomato paste; ½ cup (100 grams) butter; 2 tablespoons (25 grams) flour; 3 cups (750 milliliters) water; 1½ kilograms globe eggplants; ½ teaspoon salt; 2½ cups (625 milliliters) warm milk; 1 cup (100 grams) grated kaşar (kasseri) cheese (may substitute mild cheddar or mozzarella); ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preparation info

8
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Cuisine of Life

By Center for International Private Enterprise

Published 2019

About

One origin story of this dish, as Esin explains, goes back to 1867. The sultan Abdulaziz visited France and invited the emperor, Napoleon III, and his wife, Eugenie, to visit him in Istanbul. Unable to get away from his work, Napoleon III sent Eugenie in his place. She brought her chef along, who, one day, prepared béchamel sauce, to much interest from the palace kitchen chef, who happened to be making roasted eggplants at that very moment. The palace chef combined the two, making a new dis