Eggplant is widely used in Iraqi cuisine, for instance, some popular dishes include Khoresh Bathenjan, Borani Bathenjan & Kashke Bathenjan. Iraqi food is strongly influenced by its neighbouring countries Turkey and Iran. Like the Turks, Iraqis like to stuff vegetables and eat a lot of lamb, rice, and yoghurt. This dish is known as Malfuf bathenjan or Kufta bil bathenjan. Bathenjan means the eggplant & Malfuf means the rolls.
Photography by Kaniz Sheikh
Ingredients
For the kebab rolls:
- 2 large eggplants
- 150 gms minced lamb meat
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery leaves
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp seven spice powder
- Salt to taste
For the tomato sauce:
- 1/2 cup ready tomato paste
- 2 & half cups of water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp curry powder
- Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
- Remove the head of eggplant & partially peel off. Cut vertically to 1 cm long slices.
- Put them in salt water for half an hour.
- Pat it dry on kitchen towel and shallow fry each slice. Make sure they don’t get crispy.
- Take the minced meat in a bowl & add all the kebab ingredients to it. Mix everything well & make small oval shaped kebabs & roll in an eggplant slice.
- Place each roll carefully in a cooking pot next to each other. Make sure you put the end of the rolls downwards in the pot so they don’t open up while cooking.
- Take a bowl & mix all the ingredients together of the sauce & pour it over the eggplant rolls. Cook it for 45 mins or till the sauce gets half of its consistency.
- Garnish it with the parsley & serve hot with rice.
