Fattet Al Betingan Mahshi Recipes

FATTET AL BETINGAN MAHSHI

Steps:

• For the eggplant stuffing, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet. Put in the meat and cook for about 10 minutes, adding salt, pepper, cinnamon, and allspice, and crushing the meat with a fork and turning it over until it is cooked and the liquid has evaporated.
• In a small skillet, fry the pine nuts in a drop of oil, shaking the pan to brown them lightly all over. Stir half the pine nuts into the meat.
• Wash and dry the eggplants and hollow them out with a corer (see page 315). Fill them with the meat-and-pine-nut mixture. (Use the eggplant flesh for another dish.)
• Make the tomato sauce in a wide pan or baking pan. Put in the tomatoes with the sugar, a little salt and pepper, and, if you like, the pomegranate concentrate. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes. Put in the eggplants, and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, or until the eggplants are very soft, turning them over once.
• Open out the pita breads, cutting around them with scissors or a serrated knife, and separating them into halves. Toast them under the broiler until they are crisp and lightly browned.
• Mix the yogurt with the garlic, if using.
• Just before serving, assemble the different components in a wide and deep serving dish. Break the toast into small pieces with your hands into the bottom of the dish. Take the eggplants out of the tomato sauce, and pour the tomato sauce over the toast, which will become soft and bloated. Pour the yogurt all over, and arrange the stuffed eggplants on top. Then sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts.
• Instead of cooking the eggplants in the tomato sauce, fry them in enough medium-hot oil to half-cover them, turning to cook them all over. The skins (there is no bare flesh) stop them from absorbing the oil. Lift them out and drain on paper towels.
• Mix 2 tablespoons tahina paste with the yogurt.

BETINGAN MAKDOUS

Steps:

• Trim the stem end of the eggplants and pierce the skin in a few places with a pointed knife. Poach in salted water for 10-15 minutes, or until soft, weighing the eggplants down with a small, heavy lid. Drain, and when they are cool, very gently squeeze to get rid of the water.
• Mix the walnuts with the chili and garlic and add a little salt. Cut a slit lengthwise down the middle of each eggplant but not right through, leaving the ends so as to form a pocket. Stuff with the walnut mixture.
• Put the eggplants in a colander over a bowl, with a plate and weight on top, and leave overnight for water to drain. Transfer carefully to a jar, and cover with oil. They should be ready in a few days, and they keep for a month in the refrigerator.