food and politics

There are lots of creative recipes with aubergine. Here is one of them. A recipe for both aubergine lovers and meat lovers.
This dish is one of the main dishes of Turkish cuisine. Though, I must admit it has a creepy name in Turkish; “belly slit”, which stands for whole slitted aubergines with seasoned minced meat filling.
Greeks have this very similar dish, they have a better name; “little shoe”. Definitely cuter.
That is why I choose to call it “little shoe”.

There are two ways to cook little shoe. You can cook the aubergines in the oven (which takes longer) or you can fry them. I find them very greasy when they are fried. So I cook them in the oven. Worth waiting.
Ingredients:
4 aubergines (try to pick thin and tall ones instead of short and thick ones)
2 onions
120 gr. ground beef
Parsley
2 green banana peppers
1 tomato
3 garlic cloves
Tomato paste (the most condensed you can find, you can find really condensed ones in italian brands)
Olive oil
Sugar
Pepper
Salt
Flaked red pepper
First, peal the aubergines. Not completely, like zebra. You peal one line, then leave the other one. I read my own sentence again, I highly doubt that I’m clear enough. So here is a photo:

Then put these pealed aubergines in salted & sugared water for half an hour.
After half an hour, oil the exterior of aubergines with a brush. Make a few holes on it with a toothpick. That why when they are in the oven, they will cook easier.
Put cooking paper on your oven tray. (If you are using pyrex, no need for cooking paper.)
And put the aubergines on it. Cook them in the oven 170 degree Celsius for 30 minutes. Turn over the aubergines after 15 minutes.
While they are in the oven, you can cook the meat.
Grate 2 onions and 3 garlic cloves. Cook them in a pan in olive oil. I prefer using noodle pan because it is deeper.
When they are soft enough, add the ground beef. When the beef gets brown, add 1,5 table spoon of tomato paste. Chop parsley in very small pieces and cook it with the beef. Add the spices. It is up to you how much red pepper to put. Don’t put too much salt, usually condensed tomato pastes are already salty.
After adding boiling water (approx. 300 ml), cook on low heat until the water is drawn. Taste to see if it is soft enough.
Take the aubergines out of the oven after half an hour and let them cool. Cut the aubergines from the middle. Do not cut them in two pieces. Just enough to fill the middle with beef. Don’t cut too deep, they are already soft, they will open up quickly.
After this step, to soften the bitter taste of aubergines, I use a little bit of sugar. Take a small spoon, dip it in sugar, and spread the sugar inside the aubergine with the back of your spoon. Do not exaggerate.
Fill the aubergines with ground beef mix.
Cut banana peppers in two. Put one piece on every aubergine. Finely slice tomato. Again, one thin slice on every aubergine.
Mix half a glass of warm water with 1 table spoon of tomato paste. Pour this mix on a new cooking paper. Put the aubergines on a cooking paper. Cook it for 20-25 min in the oven.
Usually I recommend our famous Turkish rice (pilav) to accompany this dish. My next recipe will be that.
Bon appétit!