Eggplant stew – Khoresh Bademjan

Khoresh Bademjan is a classic stew of Persian cuisine, and it is so popular among the families. Like many other traditional Persian dishes, Khoresh Bademjan is also greasy, because eggplants are fried, and to balance that we have to use limoo amani (dried limes) or ghooreh (sour grape) of if you don’t have them simply use lemon.

Khoresh bademjan is served with white rice (Kateh style or Traditional style). The rice is cooked alongside the stew.

A popular variant of this recipe called: Gheimeh bademjian which is with the split chickpeas . It gives a richer structure to the stew, I put that optional because it’s not the main ingredient.

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Ingredients | 4 servings

• 2 kilos/4.4oz Eggplants
• 400g/14oz Lamb or Veal
• 2 Onions
• 2-3 limu amani or 2tbsp ghooreh or half cup of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 2tbsp Tomato paste
• 4 big Fresh Tomatoes
• Clarified butter
• Salt and Black pepper
• 2-3 tbsp Split Chickpeas (optional)

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Preparation

– Peel the eggplants and cut them in half.

– Add a generous amount of salt and leave them in a sieve for ⏳ 2 hours so they lose water.

Then you can cook the eggplants either:

• Frying (Traditional way): the eggplant in a big pan.
• In the Oven (None traditional): Coat them with oil and put them in the oven for ⏳ 1 hour at 180C°/350F°.

– In both cases: The eggplant cooks and gain a dark brown color.

Cooking the meat

– In a pot place the meat and add one onion, turmeric, 2 cups of water, salt, and pepper.

– Cook for⏳ 2 hours.

No need to chop the meat in smaller size, because in the end, it will be so tender that it divides with a spoon.

➡️ Meanwhile cook the rice so it will be ready when the stew is cooked.

➡️Prepare the sour ingredient: Place the limoo amani in a glass and pour hot boiling water on it after 1 hour they become soft. Create wholes on its skin and add them later to the final pot. If you have ghooreh (sour grapes) or you have lemon juice, you can add it directly to the final pot.

The final pot

– In a big pot, stir fry chopped onion.

– When it turns golden brown add turmeric, salt, pepper, tomatoes paste, and 2 fresh tomatoes cut in half. Stir fry for some minutes.

– Add the cooked meat & its juice (remove the onion, it helps to absorb the smell of the meat).

– Add the split chickpeas (optional).

– On top of them place fried eggplants so they soak in the meats juice.

– On the eggplants goes: the other pieces of fresh tomatoes.

– On low heat, Cook for at least ⏳ 1 hour without stirring!

Be careful with the shape of eggplants: This is challenging, especially when you want to adjust the salt but if you stir gently without mashing the eggplants it will be ok.

The main characteristic of the Khoresh Bademjan stew, visually is, the form and shape of eggplants. They should be maintained intact until you serve them. This is how you show your guest a flawless eggplant stew! This will be very challenging because they become very soft at the end of cooking.

When the stew is dense, and the flavors are well combined, the eggplant stew is ready!

Serve the stew with rice.

Notes

• To cook the meat, if you use a pressure cooker the cooking process will be much quicker.
• This dish is usually served with raw onions (not very socially accepted), fresh herbs, pickles, plain yogurt, and salad. The usual Persian mazzes مزه / چاشنی on the table

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Noosh-e-jan ☺️ (in persian: Buon appetite)