Beğendi With Kavurma
In this recipe I combined two different Turkish recipes; kavurma and beğendi. Kavurma is a traditional sacrifice feast dish. It can be cooked any time of course but it's not so possible not to find kavurma in any house in sacrifice dish.
Beğendi is the shorter name of hünkar beğendi. Hünkar beğendi means sultan liked it. Rumour has it that French Impératrice Eugénie visited Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz and first hünkar beğendi was cooked for her. When she liked it the dish was named as sultan liked it. It's not creative but has a story at least. For hünkar beğendi the meat is cooked with tomatoe paste suce. Kavurma is cooked without any sauce, that's the difference.
Kaşar cheese is used for beğendi but it's not easy to find out of Turkey so it can be changed with any melting cheese such as mozzarella, cheddar or provolone.
You can roast eggplants both in the oven or on the stove fire (I personally prefer stove). You can watch my how to roast eggplant and pepper video to see how to do it.
Enjoy the recipe
Beğendi With Kavurma with Video
Ingredients
For kavurma;
- 1 kg fat-free, chopped beef,
- 1 large onion,
- 2 cloves of garlic,
- 2 tablespoons butter,
- Salt,
- Pepper,
- 4 cups of boiling water.
For the beğendi;
- 2 eggplants,
- 4 tablespoons flour,
- 2 spoonful butter,
- 3 cups of milk,
- 1 cup of grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese,
- Salt,
- Pepper.
Preparation
- Roast the eggplants in the oven or on the stove,
- When the eggplants are roasting, take the meat into a pressure cooker and sautee until all the water is evaporated,
- Add the quartered onions, whole garlics and water and cover the lid,
- Cook in low heat for about 40-50 mins.,
- When you open the lid if there is still water, cook until all the water is gone,
- Melt the butter in a different pan,
- Add the meat (remove garlic and onions),
- Add salt and pepper and sautee for 5 mins.,
- For beğendi melt butter in a skillet,
- Add flour and sautee until it smells good,
- Add the eggplants you roasted and sautee for a few more minutes,
- Add the milk and cook constantly stirring in a low heat,
- Add salt, pepper and cheese and cook until the cheese melts,
- Share beğendi to serving plates,
- Place kavurma on top,
- You can serve it with chopped parsley and pepper flakes.
Bon Appetit...