Baked stews are a very important part of Turkish cuisine. Izmir kofte and Musakka are the most known examples of this category. The ingredients are generally pre-cooked or pre-baked and then baked with tomato paste sauce.
You can prepare the sauce by just mixing tomato paste, water and salt or sautee the tomato paste and enrich it with fresh tomatoes as I do. The first version is more practical and the second version in more delicious. A general rule about Turkish kitchen; the more you cook the more the food becomes delicious. One day if you remain between to cook or to just eat something, cook it.
The stew would be a good match with rice pilav and cacık.
Enjoy the recipes…
Ingredients:
- 3 eggplants,
- 2 red peppers,
- 2 tomatoes,
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste,
- Vegetable oil,
- 1 cup of water at room temperature.
For meatballs;
- 500 g medium fat ground beef,
- 1 egg,
- 1 onion,
- 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs,
- Salt,
- Black pepper,
- Cumin.
Preparation:
- For meatballs, add ground beef, egg, grated onion, breadcrumbs, salt, black pepper and cumin according to your taste and knead,
- Make walnut sized balls from the mixture and place on oven tray covered with wax paper,
- Brush with vegetable oil,
- Bake in a 190 C degrees pre-heated oven in grill setting until brownish,
- Peel the eggplants and chop into cubes and deep fry, remove into a strainer,
- Chop the peppers in square shapes and deep fry, remove into a strainer,
- Take the koftes, fried eggplants and peppers in a 20 * 30 cm oven dish,
- In a saucepan, heat 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
- Add the tomato paste and sautee until smells good,
- Add the grated tomatoes and mix,
- Add salt according to your taste, mix and remove from the heat,
- Pour the mixture over kofte and vegetables,
- Bake in a 190 C degrees pre-heated oven for 15-20 mins.
Bon Appetit…
