Bademjan - Delicious Persian Stew

Submitted by Persian Cook

"Bademjan means “eggplant” in Farsi (otherwise known as Persian, the language spoken Iran). This stew works fantastically with Persian rice (Polo) and is a dish which can be modified for vegetarians very easily. Such comfort food–everyone will enjoy this dish."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• 1⁄2 lb lamb
• 100 ml tomato paste
• 1 lemon
• 1 onion
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons sugar

directions

1. Peel the eggplant and cut it lengthwise in half. (Cut it in half again if you are using a large eggplant.) Lightly salt and leave it to drain in a colander for half an hour. Rinse and pat it dry with paper towel, or leave to dry it overnight. (Eggplant will ‘sweat’ when salted, don’t be scared!).
2. Fry the eggplant in oil until it is lightly colored. Remove and keep to the side.
3. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep pot and fry the onion, adding the meat, pepper turmeric and tomato paste. Sauté until the onion is lightly colored.
4. Add water and let it simmer until the meat is tender. Add more water if its required (if the dish doesn’t look liquidly then it will need more water).
5. When the meat is tender, add the eggplant, sugar, lemon, and salt to taste. Let the mixture boil for another few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Reviews

[jofakour]

Ours is a lot plainer, but this was WONDERFUL with no changes. It's perfection.

 

[lecole54]

I thought it was delicious (hubby who sometimes has problems with sweet and sour stuff not so much although he did think that the lamb was wonderfully tender). I cut the sugar (I used half sugar/half stevia) in half, and that was plenty sweet for me! I also cut the eggplant in bite-sized pieces after I fried it and it cooled; should that have been part of the recipe, or was the eggplant *supposed* to stay in big pieces? At any rate, thanks for posting this dish; I love trying new, not-too-difficult ethnic recipes, and anything with lamb in it is likely to ring my chimes!

 

[laila1981]

LOL this is bademjan

 

[Elmotoo]

I made this for Visiting Iran/Persia in the NA/ME Forum & it is OUTSTANDING. I'm glad I made a double batch!