Stuffed Eggplants – Karnıyarık

Stuffed Eggplants – Karniyarik

Karnıyarık word by word translates as “split belly”. Eggplants are stuffed with seasoned minced meat. This is a very Turkish recipe which is cooked in all regions of Turkey. This happens to be my husband’s favorite dish.

When we invite our American friends to dinner for the first time, I usually don’t choose a very authentic dish like this one. One time, however, my husband insisted that his coleague was very adventurous with his taste and I should cook his favorite dish as the main course…and I did… Well…one hour before they are supposed to arrive, we both started to wonder “what if they did not like eggplants” and we almost panicked. We decided to have an “alternate choice” ready at hand, just to make sure the dinner didn’t end up being a fiasco. He went out and got some “Shish Kebabs” from a local Iranian restaurant. We tucked away the kebabs in the oven away from eye sight “just in case”. Our friends came, we served dinner. We were carefully watching their faces as they ate to see if we should bring in the alternate dinner. It all went well. When his friend finished his plate and asked for seconds, we both burst out laughing. My husband went to the kitchen, brought out the big tray of kebabs and we had our confession.

In the original “karnıyarık” recipe eggplants are fried before stuffing them. To avoid frying, I have modified the recipe. I roast the eggplants in the oven cooking instead of frying. It tastes just as good. Hope you like it too.

Ingredients:

• 4 Japanese/Chinese/Persian eggplants1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, cut into strips
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Use Persian, Japanese or Chinese eggplants

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and dry the eggplants. Remove tops, peel eggplants lengthwise as in the photo below, cut the eggplants in half.

Peeled eggplants

Line an oven tray with parchment paper. Place eggplants on the tray flat side down. Brush olive oil on the eggplants on both sides. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 20 minutes until eggplants are slightly browned and softer. Remove, set aside, let them cool down to room temperature.

The filling:
Prepare the filling while the eggplants are being roasted in the oven. Sauté the chopped onions in 1/4 cup olive oil in a pan for about 3 minutes. Add ground beef and sauté for another 3-4 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and half of the tomato paste, salt & pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat. Add chopped parsley saving some for garnishing. Mix with a spoon, set aside.

Seasoned minced meat filling

Reheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place oven roasted eggplants in a deep oven safe dish. Using a spoon make a deep split in the middle of each eggplant for the stuffing. Place a couple of spoons of the meat filling on each eggplant until all filling is all used.

Open up the bellies of eggplants to be filled

Using a spoon, stuff the eggplants with the ground beef filling. Place sliced tomatoes and slices of pepper to garnish the tops.

In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, salt to taste, the rest of the olive oil. Pour this sauce on the baking tray. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes until the top is browned.

Filled eggplants ready to be baked

Cover the tray with aluminum foil, place it in the oven. Let it cook for about 30-35 minutes. Again, depending on the size and the type of eggplants used, you may need to cook them for longer. Please check for doneness. When checked with a fork, eggplants should be tender when fully cooked. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes until the top is browned. Remove the dish from the oven.

Sprinkle a few sprigs of parsley as garnish.

Serve hot with rice.

Cooked “karniyarik” ready to be served

It is usually served with rice.

Afiyet Olsun!

Bon Appetit!