Karnıyarık (Aubergine Stuffed with Minced Meat)

Name: Karnıyarık (Aubergine Stuffed with Minced Meat)
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 4 Long aubergines (eggplants); 1 tsp (5 ml) Salt (for soaking); 5 tbsp (75 ml) Olive oil, for frying; 300 g Ground beef or lamb; 2 Onions, finely chopped; 3 cloves Garlic, chopped; 2 Tomatoes, chopped; 2 Long green peppers; 1 tbsp (15 ml) Tomato paste; 1 tsp (5 ml) Turkish red pepper flakes (pul biber); 1 tsp (5 ml) Sugar; 1 tsp (5 ml) Salt; 0.5 tsp (2.5 ml) Black pepper; 200 ml Hot water; Flat-leaf parsley

Whole aubergines fried soft, split open like a belly (which its name means, split belly) and filled with a rich onion-and-tomato mince, then baked in a light tomato broth until glazed.

Source

Recipe by Turkish home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Household and neighbourhood cooking carried across Türkiye — no single author owns these dishes

Turkish · traditional dish — An ownerless traditional dish, so no individual cook is credited. The cited article documents karnıyarık as a Turkish dish of whole aubergine split and stuffed with minced meat, onion and tomato and baked. Quantities and step wording here are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made · 2 videos

serra moon Refika's Kitchen

⏱ 80 min🍽 4 servings🔥 360 kcal🇹🇷 Turkey🌶️

HalalDairy-freeGluten-freeNut-free

Steps

Peel the aubergines in stripes, leaving alternating bands of skin, then soak in salted water 15 minutes to soften them and draw out any bitterness.
Lift them out and pat very dry.
💡 Wet aubergine spits violently in hot oil — dry it well first.
Brown the whole aubergines in the olive oil, turning, until soft and golden on all sides, then lift onto paper towel.
In the same pan, cook the onions until soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and the chopped green pepper and cook 2 minutes.
Add the meat, breaking it up, and fry until browned.
Stir in the chopped tomato, tomato paste, half the pepper flakes, the sugar, salt and black pepper, and simmer 8–10 minutes to a thick, jammy filling, then mix in the parsley.
Sit the aubergines in a baking dish and cut a deep lengthways slit in each, without cutting through the ends, then gently press to open a pocket.
Spoon the meat filling generously into each pocket, mounding it up.
Lay a strip of green pepper and a slice of tomato on top of each.
Stir the remaining pepper flakes into the hot water with a little salt and pour it around the aubergines, not over them.
Bake at 200°C for 30–35 minutes until the aubergines are meltingly soft and the tops are glazed.
Rest 5 minutes and serve warm with rice pilaf.

💡 Tips

The splash of water poured around the base keeps the dish saucy and stops the aubergine drying in the oven.
Like most Turkish aubergine dishes, it tastes even better gently reheated the next day.