Levantine cuisine · Dough, Pasta & Rice

Batirsh

An Aleppo-style layered dish: roasted eggplant puree with garlic yogurt over bread cubes, topped with ground meat.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 3 eggplants (approx. 900 g)
• 300 g yogurt
• 3 cloves garlic
• 300 g ground lamb
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp baharat (Arabic spice blend)
• 2 flatbreads
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• 50 g butter
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Prick the eggplants several times and roast at 220 °C top/bottom heat for 40 min. until the skin is black and the flesh completely soft; then drain in a sieve for 10 min.
2. Cut the flatbread into 2 cm cubes and toast in a pan with 2 tbsp olive oil for 5 min. until crisp, then place in a shallow serving dish.
3. Finely dice the onion, sauté it in the remaining olive oil for 4 min., add the ground meat and brown it well for 8 min. until it forms brown crumbles; toast the tomato paste and baharat in with it for 2 min. and season with salt and pepper.
4. Scoop the eggplant flesh out of the skin, coarsely mash it with a fork and mix it with the yogurt, the finely grated garlic, salt and pepper into a creamy mixture.
5. Spread the eggplant cream evenly over the bread cubes and distribute the hot ground meat in the middle on top.
6. Toast the pine nuts in the butter for 2–3 min. until golden brown, pour everything over the dish and serve immediately while warm.