Turkish Eggplants and Rice Pilaf, a recipe from Ayca Erdem

This is a staple in Turkish kitchens, and I am sure that all families have their own specific recipes. I’m sharing one that is a bit of a mix between how I make this, and how my new friend Ayça taught me.

Sometimes Instagram is cool. I was back home in Cleveland visiting friends over Thanksgiving and got a DM from a Turkish woman living in Cleveland. Her name is Ayça and one of her passions is cooking. Her instagram is full of all the food she started cooking and documenting during the pandemic.

We met up in Cleveland, had so much fun and also ended up meeting in Istanbul when I was there on business and she was back home visiting her family. Last week, she taught me how to make an eggplant dish and her version of rice pilaf. It’s homey and filling and is such a beautiful presentation. I don’t often like eggplant (the texture), but in this preparation style I was obsessed.

Ayça’s recipe for ‘Split Belly” Eggplant is below, and you can pair it with this delicious pilaf recipe here.

THE RECIPE (by Ayça Erdem)

For eggplants–

* 5 eggplants

* 5 tablespoons olive oil

Filling–

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 1 small onion, finely chopped

* 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

* 200g/ 7oz ground beef (in my case I’d use a plant-based substitute or tofu or chopped mushrooms)

* ¼ cup finely chopped green pepper

* ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes

* 1 teaspoon salt

* ½ teaspoon black pepper

* ½ cup parsley, finely chopped

Sauce–

* 1 and ½ cups hot water

* 2 tablespoon tomato paste

The Making + Baking–

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

2. 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.  

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

4. 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.

Filling–

5. 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.  

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

7. Now add in chopped peppers and tomatoes. Let them cook for 5 minutes over low heat.

8. Remove from heat and add in chopped parsley.

Assembly–

9. 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.

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

11. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

12. Mix water and tomato paste well.

13. Pour it all over the stuffed eggplants.

14. Bake for 20 minutes.

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