I have been asked many times on one of our house specials, our twist on the traditional dish claaed “Hunkar Begendi” literally translated as the “ Sultan ( Ottoman Emperor) liked it”.

Serving 6 people

Ingredients
Beef Cheek
6 x Medium beef cheeks
1L Beef stock
200g Tomato paste

100ml Olive oil

1 Brown onion

100g Banana pepper

200g Truss tomatoes

Salt & Pepper

250 ml. Dry red wine

1 Clove garlic

50g Roasted cumin seeds

200g Pitted Aegean green olives

Eggplant begendy

6 Large eggplants

200g Plain flour

150g Butter

500ml Fresh cream

300g Grated kashar ( or provolone) cheese

Method

Beef Cheek
-Trim the sinew and fat off the beef cheek
-Brown finely diced onion and cumin seeds in olive oil, transfer in to the slow cooker, add chopped banana pepper, garlic then fresh tomato and tomato paste
-Add beef stock and red wine
-Add beef cheeks and cook six hours on low heat
-Add olives to the mixture and stew for another 5 minutes, season accordingly

Eggplant Begendy
-Char grill whole eggplant till skin parts from flesh easily (make sure outside is burnt, to give the smoky flavor)
-Once cool, take the burnt skin off, chop roughly
-Melt butter add flour to make a roux, season properly
-Add eggplants, whisk till eggplants are roughly mashed
-Add cream and grated kashar, low simmer for 5 minutes
-Serve the beef cheeks on eggplant puree

AFIYET OLSUN !!!