Turkish Stuffed Eggplant Recipe Karniyarik

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Peel the eggplants lengthwise, leaving some stripes of the skin. Using a knife, make a slit on each eggplant but don’t cut it all. Don’t remove the stems.

Soak the eggplants in salted water for about 15 minutes. Gently squeeze them and pat dry with a paper towel.

Place the eggplants on an oven grill or on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the eggplants with olive oil, about 1 tablespoon olive oil for each. Bake them until tender, for 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling when you put the eggplants in the oven. Heat olive oil in a pan. Cook onions until translucent. Add in garlic and then ground beef. Stir well and press on the ground beef so that there won’t be any blocks left.

Then cover the pan and let it release its juice first and then absorb most of it.

Now add in chopped peppers and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Let them cook for 5 minutes over low heat.

Remove from heat and add in chopped parsley.

Now remove the eggplants from the oven. Make some space for the filling  in each eggplant by pushing the edges of the slit using a spoon. Make a boat shape.

Stuff the eggplants with the filling and place them in a baking pan.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Mix water and tomato paste well.

Pour it all over the stuffed eggplants.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.