First time I tried this lovely Turkish dish was many years ago at my friend Candans, I fell in love with them! Even though the qofte or meatball might not be traditional, it’s my way ( I should say mama’s way) of making a moist and flavourful meatball, for the most part I would say it’s the same, but mama always moistens her bread with milk, and since forever has added a bit of ketchup, so I do the same. I use my own tomato-sauce for this as it just so much tastier than store bought, but of course if you don’t have any, get the best tasting plain tomato sauce, I recommend buying a can of diced tomatoes and pureeing them, when I am out of homemade that is what I do.
For meatballs:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 pieces of bread
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- splash of milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt to season
- 2 medium or large eggplant
- 1 tomato
- 1 cubenelle pepper
- tooth picks
- 1 cup tomato sauce
Prepare the tomato and peppers on toothpicks for garnish, as seen the photo below.
Cut eggplant from the top to bottom in thin strips not too thin, enough to be able to fry and wrap the meatballs. Fry the eggplant in a pan with oil season with salt.
Place on a paper towel lined pan to soak oil; set aside.
Take bread and soak in milk along with the bread crumbs (if it’s too dry add more milk), add to bowl with meat, add the egg.
Add seasonings, onion and ketchup. Mix in all ingredients well, shape into meatballs. If you want you can add other seasonings to your liking.
Take a piece of eggplant place meat ball in the middle, use the toothpick to close up the wrap.
Spread the tomato sauce on bottom of 13 x 9 inch glass pan. Lay the eggplant rolls on top of sauce. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 mins or until meatballs are cooked.
Wow, what a cool idea. I was searching for a innovative recipe with eggplants, gotta try this one for sure. Thanks for sharing.