Addictive Turkish Eggplant and Ground Beef Recipe

Ingredients:
• 2 – 3 eggplants, 600 g
• Ground beef or lamb, 250 g
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 medium onion
• Pita / pide bread (traditionally, stale bread (pide / tandir) is used to avoid waste)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 250 g plain yogurt
• 1 clove of garlic
• Frying oil
• 1 tbsp butter (optional to toast the breads)
• Chopped parsley to garnish (optional)
Instructions:
1. Wash and peel the eggplants in stripes and cut into large cubes
2. Soak the egpplant cubes in salted water for 15 mins, drain and pat dry
Alternatively, rub the cubes with coarse salt, let sit in a strainer for 15 mins, drain the excess liquid.
3. Fry the eggplants in a separate pan with vegetable oil until nicely browned
Alternatively, lightly oil the eggplants and roast in the oven for 15 – 20 mins
4. Transfer the fried / roasted eggplants onto a paper towel, drain to get rid of the excess oil
5. Finely chop the onion and dice the tomato
6. Heat up 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan and add the ground meat. Stir and cook until nicely browned.
7. Remove the ground meat from the pan and set aside, leave as much as possible oil in the pan.
8. Add and cook the onions for 2 - 3 mins until softened
9. Add the tomato paste and stir and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
10. Add the diced tomato, cook until the tomatoes are soft and reduced to half.
11. Add the minced beef, together with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp paprika powder and 1/2 tsp black pepper
12. Stir and cook the minced beef for 2 mins to evenly cook and combine
13. Cover the lid and cook for another 15 mins with the lid covered
14. Add the eggplants into the pan with the minced beef mixture, gently stir to combine and turn off the heat
15. Whisk the yogurt in a bowl and grate or grind 1 clove of garlic and mix with the yogurt
16. Cut the bread in small cubes and toast with 1 tbsp butter until golden brown (optional).
(traditionally, stale bread (pide / tandir bread) is used to avoid waste)
17. Layer the bread cubes on the bottom of the serving plate
18. Layer on top the garlic yogurt and spread over the bread cubes
19. Finally layer the eggplants and ground beef mixture on top
20. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve warm