Hunkar Begendi (gluten-free)
Ingredients
For eggplant sauce
- 3-4 eggplants (about 400 g)
- 100 g all-purpose flour (gluten-free)
- 50 g olive oil
- salt & pepper, grated nutmeg
- 400 g milk (slightly warm)
- 250 g shredded gruyere cheese
- Optionally: 1 lemon (juice)
For meat
- 500 g lamb meat (or beef)
- minimum olive oil
- 2 dry onions (about 80g) and a clove of garlic
- 250 g tomato sauce
- 2 fresh tomatoes peeled (about 300g in total)
- salt & pepper, a cinnamon stick
- a few allspice grains and any other spice you prefer
Hunkar Begendi (gluten-free) (Turkish), an oriental food that in its translation means “as the Sultan likes”. So for the Sultan to eat it and be thankful, then it certainly means a lot.
It is one of my favorite recipes that are easily made without gluten (since the flour can easily be replaced).
The aromatic combination of eggplant and red meat are ingredients that makes it irresistible!
And of course, everyone can adjust it to his tasteful preferences, making it easily more spicy or hotter.
Here I use olive oil instead of butter and believe me it will not be stodgy at all as a tasty result.
So try it at home for a special and tasty meal.
Method
Starting with the meat.
Cut the meat into square pieces.
Finely chop the onions and the garlic. Pulse the fresh tomato in a blender.
In a saucepan, saute the meat in olive oil and add the onions and garlic.
Pour the fresh tomato and tomato sauce and season with salt & pepper.
Add the allspice and cinnamon stick (and any other spice we like) and let it simmer for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
If we are lucky and have the opportunity to charcoal the eggplants, we first make several small holes in them and then let them bake for at least 30 minutes (depends on how high heat our coals have).
Once they soften and brown they are ready.
Otherwise I will suggest two ways in the oven:
1) We pierce them at several points with a knife and place them in a small baking pan wrapped with aluminum foil.
Bake in the oven for at least 1 hour at 180C degrees.
In one pot pour the water and lemon juice. Drizzle the baked eggplants and leave them for 15 minutes.
We peel them and remove their seeds. Cut them into small pieces and drain them.
2) Cut into slices. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spread the eggplants. Sprinkle with small amount of olive oil and some salt and bake until they soften. Once we remove them from the oven, remove their flesh with a spoon.
Their inner part is as much as we need for eggplant puree.
To make it easier for you, if the eggplant has a lot of seeds it is good to follow the first way. The second one is usually followed when eggplants have few seeds.
In a saucepan and at medium heat, combine the olive oil and flour.
Stir continuously with a stirrer and as soon as the flour is warm enough add the eggplants.
Immediately add the milk and season with salt & pepper. Once it starts to thicken, add the cheese. Grate the nutmeg and remove from heat.
Serve the eggplant sauce/puree usually first on the dish and put the meat on top.
Bon appetit !!
Nutritional information per 100 g
Energy / calories: 167.90 kcal
Proteins: 7.26 g
Carbohydrates: 6.81 g
Fat: 12.42 g
