BuranA Middle Eastern, medieval recipe for meatballs in an eggplant yogurt sauce.
Take eggplant, and boil lightly in water and salt, then take out and dry for an hour. Fry this in fresh sesame oil until cooked; peel, put into a dish or a large cup, and beat well with a ladle, until it becomes like kabis. Add a little salt and dry coriander. Take some Persian milk, mix in garlic, pour over the eggplant, and mix together well. Take red meat, mince fine, make into small cabobs, and melting fresh tail, throw the meat into it, stirring until browned. Then cover with water, and stew until the water has evaporated and only the oils remain. Pour on top of this the eggplant, sprinkle with fine ground cumin and cinnamon, and serve. (BCB III.7)
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Ingredients:
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For this recipe, you may use small or large eggplants, and they can be any color. First, parboil the eggplants (whole; do not cut them) in salted water for ten minutes, and then allow them to drain and cool in a strainer. Doing this the day before works very well. While the eggplant is cooling, make your meatballs.
To make the meatballs, add 1 tbsp of shwarma or mild curry powder to each pound of meat and mix well. Form it into meatballs about 2.5 inches in diameter. Let sit for a few minutes before moving onto the next step. Meatballs can be made up to a day in advance, and stored in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. Alternatively, large batches of meatballs can be made and frozen raw (freeze separately on a tray, then put frozen balls into a freezer bag for long term storage). Defrost frozen meatballs in the fridge overnight, and then cook as usual.
Cover the bottom of a frying pan with sesame oil, and cook the eggplant in this over low to medium heat, turning from time to time, until very soft. While it isn't completely necessary*, I found that cutting the eggplant into manageable pieces for this was much better. Once the eggplant has been fried and is soft, drain and cool it in a strainer (don't throw the oil away!).
If you are using regular yogurt, put it into a yogurt strainer or a fine strainer lined with coffee filter paper or two layers of paper towels, so that some of the liquid will drain out. If you're using Greek yogurt, you can skip this step!
Cook the meatballs in the pan that you previously fried the eggplant in. Brown the meatballs quickly on a medium high heat, then add enough salted water to cover the meatballs (barely), and simmer uncovered until the liquid has evaporated and only the liquor is left in the bottom (it should be somewhat syrupy).
Peel your cooled eggplant, and remove the stems. Puree it with the salt and coriander, mashing thoroughly with a fork or processing it in a blender or food processor. Add in the yogurt, garlic, and parsley, and mix more. This sauce can be poured direclty into the fully cooked meatballs and stirred around. Stir gently until the sauce is heated throughout (but not roughly enough to break your meatballs apart). Before serving, sprinkle with cumin and cinnamon, and offer it with a sprig of parsley for color.
Serve your Buran with a side of jasmine rice, some sauteed vegetables, and home baked breads.
I highly suggest cooking a double batch of this recipe, because it disappears quickly. The flavors are exquisite, and even die-hard eggplant haters will come back looking for more. You can also make just the sauce, and turn it into a dip. Simply skip the puree stage, and mash with a fork until well blended but still slightly chunky (a potato masher might help). Blend in the yogurt, garlic, salt, and coriander, and add a half cup of parmesan cheese, then heat in a pot or the microwave until just warm throughout. Serve the dip with pita bread or naan!
To make the meatballs, add 1 tbsp of shwarma or mild curry powder to each pound of meat and mix well. Form it into meatballs about 2.5 inches in diameter. Let sit for a few minutes before moving onto the next step. Meatballs can be made up to a day in advance, and stored in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. Alternatively, large batches of meatballs can be made and frozen raw (freeze separately on a tray, then put frozen balls into a freezer bag for long term storage). Defrost frozen meatballs in the fridge overnight, and then cook as usual.
Cover the bottom of a frying pan with sesame oil, and cook the eggplant in this over low to medium heat, turning from time to time, until very soft. While it isn't completely necessary*, I found that cutting the eggplant into manageable pieces for this was much better. Once the eggplant has been fried and is soft, drain and cool it in a strainer (don't throw the oil away!).
If you are using regular yogurt, put it into a yogurt strainer or a fine strainer lined with coffee filter paper or two layers of paper towels, so that some of the liquid will drain out. If you're using Greek yogurt, you can skip this step!
Cook the meatballs in the pan that you previously fried the eggplant in. Brown the meatballs quickly on a medium high heat, then add enough salted water to cover the meatballs (barely), and simmer uncovered until the liquid has evaporated and only the liquor is left in the bottom (it should be somewhat syrupy).
Peel your cooled eggplant, and remove the stems. Puree it with the salt and coriander, mashing thoroughly with a fork or processing it in a blender or food processor. Add in the yogurt, garlic, and parsley, and mix more. This sauce can be poured direclty into the fully cooked meatballs and stirred around. Stir gently until the sauce is heated throughout (but not roughly enough to break your meatballs apart). Before serving, sprinkle with cumin and cinnamon, and offer it with a sprig of parsley for color.
Serve your Buran with a side of jasmine rice, some sauteed vegetables, and home baked breads.
I highly suggest cooking a double batch of this recipe, because it disappears quickly. The flavors are exquisite, and even die-hard eggplant haters will come back looking for more. You can also make just the sauce, and turn it into a dip. Simply skip the puree stage, and mash with a fork until well blended but still slightly chunky (a potato masher might help). Blend in the yogurt, garlic, salt, and coriander, and add a half cup of parmesan cheese, then heat in a pot or the microwave until just warm throughout. Serve the dip with pita bread or naan!
Notes from 10/1/2015:
I made this recipe with two types of meatballs: lamb and a meatloaf mix (equal amounts of ground pork, beef, and veal). I made the lamb meatballs with a standard organic red curry, and the meatloaf mix ones with the shwarma spices. The lamb meatballs came out less juicy, but with a bit of a kick to them which was preferred by my family. The meatloaf mix yields a very moist meatball, and the shwarma spice is tasty and very "Indian" flavored without being the least bit hot. I mixed both meatballs with one egg (beaten) and breadcrumbs (gluten free) to make them more moist, and I prefer this method. The meatballs held together better in the pan, and were less prone to crumbling near the end of the cooking process.
When the meatballs were thoroughly cooked (check - these take a very long time to cook through because they are dense) and the water almost entirely gone, I removed the meatballs to a warming tray in the oven and deglazed the pan slightly with the remaining liquid. I then added in the eggplant yogurt sauce, and whisked it to incorporate all the sesame oil. I made it with the grated parmesan cheese, and was very glad I did. The resulting sauce was a bit chunkier than the original (which was incredibly smooth), and the cheese melted during the heating, leaving it quite tasty and clingy.
I cooked the eggplant in batches this time. I had three little and one rather large eggplants, so the three small ones were cooked as above (split in half and fried, see pictures below). The large one I attempted to cook the same way, but found it didn't cook the center of the eggplant well enough for me. I ended up cutting it in 3/4 inch slices and frying it that way, which provided me with the very soft eggplant that blends nicely in the sauce.
I made this recipe with two types of meatballs: lamb and a meatloaf mix (equal amounts of ground pork, beef, and veal). I made the lamb meatballs with a standard organic red curry, and the meatloaf mix ones with the shwarma spices. The lamb meatballs came out less juicy, but with a bit of a kick to them which was preferred by my family. The meatloaf mix yields a very moist meatball, and the shwarma spice is tasty and very "Indian" flavored without being the least bit hot. I mixed both meatballs with one egg (beaten) and breadcrumbs (gluten free) to make them more moist, and I prefer this method. The meatballs held together better in the pan, and were less prone to crumbling near the end of the cooking process.
When the meatballs were thoroughly cooked (check - these take a very long time to cook through because they are dense) and the water almost entirely gone, I removed the meatballs to a warming tray in the oven and deglazed the pan slightly with the remaining liquid. I then added in the eggplant yogurt sauce, and whisked it to incorporate all the sesame oil. I made it with the grated parmesan cheese, and was very glad I did. The resulting sauce was a bit chunkier than the original (which was incredibly smooth), and the cheese melted during the heating, leaving it quite tasty and clingy.
I cooked the eggplant in batches this time. I had three little and one rather large eggplants, so the three small ones were cooked as above (split in half and fried, see pictures below). The large one I attempted to cook the same way, but found it didn't cook the center of the eggplant well enough for me. I ended up cutting it in 3/4 inch slices and frying it that way, which provided me with the very soft eggplant that blends nicely in the sauce.
