Iraqi Eggplant-Casserole

Submitted by Halalmom

"We had this wonderful dish last weekend, and I had to post it right away! The flavours of the vegetables and meatballs complement each other very well, and the smell while baking fills your kitchen... NOTE:Do not skip the step of frying the vegetables, I think it is absolutely necessary!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 large eggplants, sliced
• 2 large potatoes, sliced
• 1 large onion
• 400 g ground lamb or 400 g beef
• 2 large tomatoes
• 44.37 ml tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves
• 14.79 ml parsley, finely chopped
• 14.79 ml ground paprika
• salt
• pepper
• oil (for frying)
• 473.18 ml water

directions

1. Fry eggplants, potatoes and onion rings in hot oil.
2. Mix the ground meat with paprika powder, salt and pepper and form little meat-balls, about 20 pieces.
3. Fry the meat-balls in hot oil.
4. Layer ingredients in a large baking dish in this order: Eggplants, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, meatballs.
5. Mix the water together with tomato paste, chopped parsley, garlic, pepper and about 3 teaspoons salt.
6. Pour the liquid over the vegetables and the meatballs.
7. Bake in oven at 200°C, for about one hour.
8. Cover if necessary.
9. Serve with cooked rice or pita bread and some crumbled feta-cheese!

Reviews

[UmmBinat]

Was good. I fried each kind of vegetable separately. I did have to omit the eggplant because of an allergy and was going to replace it with zucchini until I found out they were not in a good state. I used extra virgin olive oil to fry the vegetables. While I was frying the onions and when they were almost done I added some granulated raw cane sugar to them along with a dash sea salt that I sprinkled on the potatoes with freshly ground pepper as well. I took Crystal Skies idea and added a lot more parsley with good results. I also followed Aaliyah&Aaron's mum, in that I added ground allspice to the tomato paste water mixture. I also added allspice to the meat as well. I did not cook the meatballs in oil but put them raw into the pan which is a good idea as a previous time they burnt when they were fried first. I first oiled the pan with virgin olive oil before layering everything. I found I had to cover the dish with aluminum foil in the oven after a while. I served this with Recipe #136535. I may make this again with zucchini.

 

[Crystal Skies]

Thank you Halalmom. I am American and my husband is a Kurd so I made this receipe for him and he loved it. Kurds call it Tepsi. I made it a second time with some modifications for work: First I fried the potatoes seperate so they would be softer, I pretty much doubled the spices in the meatballs and also added cinnamin and ground cloves. Also I added a lot more tomato paste and parsley. I added water to thin the paste before I poured it on top so there was more tomato flavor/sauce. Thank you so much for this receipe. My husband was proud of me...i did give you the credit though :-) I do request that you post a receipe for Yaghprah/Dolma. I haven't found a good one yet that tastes like the ones I've eaten at our friends. Thank you Thank you Thank you. (Supas zoor!)

 

[elenasimona]

Ha, I thought I knew this recipe ;))) Well, what can I say, ever since I tried it it has been one of my favourite dishes. It's also good without the meatballs...but try to make a Middle Eastern husband eat that *g*

 

[AaliyahsAaronsMum]

As you said, it is a WONDERFUL dish! Made minor changes though - used 1 aubergine (DH HATES them), added in half the paprika to the kuftas alongwith 2 minced garlic cloves and chopped parsley, and the remaining half of the paprika, added to the liquid base with some ground allspice. I seasoned each layer with salt and pepper, so added just about 1 tsp salt in the end (since we watch our salt intake, I tend to use less salt anyway). DH enjoyed it as well without having to touch the aubergine slices that were at the bottom of the dish! I served it with Kittencal's Recipe #169862. Thank you, Halalmom, for sharing this wonderful recipe. Keeper for sure!