Turkish Eggplant Kebab (Patlican Kebabi)

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 4-5 eggplants
• 2 green peppers
• 1 tomato
• 1 clove garlic 
• 1 small onion (grated)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper 
• 1 ¼ tsp salt

For the Red Sauce:

• 1 cup cold water
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

For Soaking Eggplant:

• 5 cups cold water
• 2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1- Cut the eggplants 1-1.5 inches wide and soak them in salted cold water for around 30 minutes to remove any bitterness from them.

2- Mix ground beef, garlic, grated onions and salt and pepper.

3- Pull a walnut sized piece from the ground beef mix and slightly flatten, like a small patty. This amount will give you about 17 small patties.

4- In a pan, arrange the beef and eggplants by alternating with one piece of eggplant and one piece of meat patty.

5- make the sauce by mix the salt, olive oil and tomato sauce and  water. Pour it all over the ground beef patties and eggplant.

6- Cover the pan with aluminum foil.

7- Bake for about 1 hour at 400º F or until you feel its cooked through.

8- Remove aluminum foil and place the tomato halves and the chopped garlic and peppers.

9- Place the pan under the broil for about 10 minutes until the peppers and tomatoes looks roasted.

10- Enjoy with Basmati rice, Pita bread and tzatziki.