Hünkar Beğendi Recipe - Sultan's Delight
Hünkar Beğendi, or Sultan's Delight, is a rich, creamy dish - and if it was good enough for the sultan, it's good enough for us.
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Servings 4
Ingredients
For The Lamb Stew
- 500 grams lamb (from the leg, chopped into cubes)
- 3 medium-large tomatoes (roughly chopped )
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 1 dessert spoon tomato paste
- 1 dessert spoon thyme (or oregano, or a mix of both)
- 20 grams butter (for cooking)
- salt & pepper (for seasoning)
For The 'Beğendi'
- 3 medium aubergines (eggplants) (eggplants)
- 1 handful parmesan (grated, or a strong tulum cheese if you are in Turkey)
- 50 grams butter
- 50 grams plain (all purpose) flour
- ½ litre milk
- 1 handful fresh parsley (chopped, to garnish)
Instructions
For The Lamb Stew
- Melt your butter over a medium heat in large saucepan.
- Now add your lamb and stir it round until it starts to brown.
- Once your lamb is browned all over, add your onion and garlic and stir.
- Cook for 5 minutes or so, until your onion starts to sweat.
- Now add your chopped tomatoes, tomato paste (salça) and one cup of hot water.
- Stir everything together.
- Add your thyme/oregano (kekik), salt & pepper and stir.
- Once your stew is simmering, put a lid on the pan and turn the heat to low.
- Simmer your stew for around 1 hour, until the lamb has softened and your sauce has thickened.
- Remove from the heat and make your 'beğendi' puree...
To Make The Aubergine (Eggplant) Puree - The 'Beğendi'
- Preheat your oven to 240 degrees Celsius (465 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Prick your aubergines with a sharp knife and place on a baking tray in the centre of the oven.
- Bake the aubergines until they are soft to touch (around 15-20 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and leave them to cool.
- Once cooled, make a slit along the length of each aubergine.
- Scrape out the pulp with a teaspoon.
- Discard the skins and as many of the seeds as possible.
- Chop up the pulp.
- Now melt your butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Once melted, gradually add your flour, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
- After you've added all your flour, your mixture will be relatively solid and now you can start to add your milk.
- Add your milk a little at a time, again, stirring continuously so that the mixture remains smooth.
- Keep going until you have used up all of your milk and you have a smooth, milky mixture.
- Keep stirring and after a couple of minutes, you will notice the sauce start to thicken.
- Once the sauce has started to thicken, add your aubergine. Keep stirring, gently.
- Now add your grated cheese and keep stirring until your 'beğendi' sauce has thickened enough to make a suitable nest for your lamb.
- To serve, share the beğendi sauce between your plates, making a little nest in the centre of each.
- Now spoon the lamb stew into the nest and allow the sauces to run over the aubergine puree.
- Sprinkle the parsley over the lamb and serve up your Sultan's Delight.
Notes
- The lamb stew for the hünkar beğendi recipe can be cooked in advance and reheated later, when you are ready to serve.
- When you make the beğendi sauce, aubergines can discolour quickly. If you want to roast them in advance, you can prevent discolouration by placing the pulp in a bowl of water with a light sprinkling of salt and the juice of one lemon.
- When you are ready to make your sauce, press the aubergine puree in a sieve to drain the water.
- As always, calorie count is a rough guideline and depends on various factors.
Nutrition
Calories: 600kcal
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