Turkish Baked Eggplant Filled With Ground Beef

Turkish cuisine is famous for both its eggplant dishes and its creativity with ground beef. If you love both, try this recipe for oven-baked eggplant filled with ground beef, tomatoes and spices, better known as ‘karniyarik’ (karn-UH’ YAHR’-uk).

First, fresh, young eggplants are fried to soften and flavor them. Then they are filled with ground beef that’s been cooked with tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices.

When the stuffed eggplants are baked in the oven, the juices from the filling combine with the earthy flavor of the eggplant. The resulting taste is magical.

Almost every home cook in Turkey makes a version of this dish. It’s real comfort food and goes especially well on chilly fall and winter evenings. All you need is some fresh bread to dip in the juices, a fresh salad and some plain yogurt on the side for a complete and satisfying meal.

Go ahead and try this recipe for Turkish ‘karniyarik’. The name may seem silly, but the taste is very serious.

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