Stuffed eggplant recipe that we liked



This is a fleishig recipe based on ground beef and tomato sauce.

I made this last night, and it came out good, so I am saving it here. It's a variation of something I found online, but I had to make several changes for it to work to our taste and in our kitchen.

This recipe serves 3 or four people, depending on how hungry they are and whatever else is being served. With nothing else, two reasonably hungry people could eat this.

We're making the sauce separately from the eggplants, so here are the two ingredient lists:

Eggplant:

  • 2 small or one large eggplants
  • 250 grams of ground beef, more or less..the picture is misleading, because I actually used 500 grams of ground meat.
  • 1 chili pepper, diced. Green for aesthetics. I left this out because not everyone likes it spicy and also I didn't have any.
  • 1 red pepper, chopped up small, see picture
  • some crushed garlic or a minced garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (more or less, I didn't measure)
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika

Sauce:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • rosemary and pepper
  • (optional) chopped parsley to sprinkle on top and make it look nice
Wash your hands with soap and water before doing anything with the food! Maybe even wear gloves, especially if you have any open cuts. You do not want to get some of this stuff into your cuts, or any of you into the food. My Mom used to say that getting parts of the cook into the food is part of the experience, but I can't say I agree.

Prepare a decent sized working area that is fleishig. At least a decent sized cutting board and vegetable knife. If your vegetable knife is pareve, you'll need a separate board / working area.

Next, prepare the eggplant. Wash it first. Then, without bursting the skin, smoosh it so the inner pulp is crushed. You can use a rolling pin or your hands. The goal is to have room for the chopped meat mix.

Get a fleishig bowl, put in the meat, chili pepper, red pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, and olive oil.Mix it up with your hands. I really meant it about the open cuts above.

Make a lengthwise slit down the middle of the eggplant(s) so you can stuff the meat mix inside. You may find that the inside of the eggplant isn't crushed enough. Use your hands to do that now. Stuff the eggplant(s) with the meat mix. If there's leftover meat mix, make meatballs out of the rest of the meat mix.

Get a fleishig saucepan (you can see the one I used in the picture, and if you've been in my house, you know which one I used). Make sure it as a nice, tightly fitting lid and can fit your eggplants.

To make the sauce, add in the olive oil, rosemary and onions on medium heat. Cook the onions. We're not trying to fry, only to cook the onions. Soft, not burnt. Once it's cooked, add in the tomato sauce and stir in the pepper.

Lay down the eggplants into the sauce in the pan while it's cooking. Add any meatballs into spare spots in the pan. Bring the heat down to a simmer. Cover the saucepan with the lid, and let it cook on low-to-medium heat for at least 30 minutes. I had to go somewhat longer, but you don't have to even bother checking it for at least 30 minutes.

When you're done, if you're feeling fancy, sprinkle the parsley on top. I didn't bother.

It was great. Tzirel and I split one of the ones in the picture, but if Hillel had been here he would have eaten the other one by himself, so that's a decent estimate of how many people it serves.

Let me know if you try it! We loved it.

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