Khoresh Bademjan Recipe (Persian Eggplant Stew, خورش بادمجان)

Instructions

Let's Prep the Eggplants

Get a large bowl and fill it with cool tap water. Add 1 Tbsp of salt in and squeeze the juice of ½ the lemon.
1 Tbsp salt, 1 lemon
Peel the eggplants. Then slice them into long pieces, about 1cm (just under ½in) thick. You'll get about 5-6 pieces per eggplant.
3 eggplants
Place the sliced eggplants in the bowl of water. Place a small saucer on the eggplants and weigh down with a can of food, so all the eggplants are submerged in the salted, lemony water. Leave for 20 minutes. While the eggplants are soaking, let's get the meat going.

Let's start the Cooking

Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat, and sauté the chopped onions for 2 minutes.
2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 large onion
Add the garlic and turmeric and stir for 20 seconds.
1 small clove garlic, 1 tsp turmeric
Add the lamb and stir vigorously, coating it with all those onions. Do this for 3 minutes, to brown the lamb slightly.
500 g lamb, in bite size pieces (or beef)
Add the the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, water and saffron water in. Stir and bring it to a boil.
2 Tbsp concentrated tomato paste, 200 g canned chopped tomatoes, 250 ml water, 1 Tbsp liquid saffron
With the back of a knife, pound the limoo amani (dried lime), so that it breaks up into 2-3 pieces. Scoop all this up and add to the stew. Don't worry, the lime will soften and be perfectly edible.
Once the stew has come to a boil, reduce the heat right down and simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is just cooked. It will still be cooking for another 20 minutes with the eggplants, so don't overcook it at this stage.
1 limoo amani

Back to the eggplants

While the meat is cooking, let's attend to the eggplants. Rinse and pat dry the eggplants. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush each eggplant with olive oil and place under the grill (broiler) on high.
Grill for 15 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Set aside until the meat is ready.

Finishing cooking the Khoresh

When the meat is done, add the eggplants to the stew, bring back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the eggplants are fully cooked and soft.
Check the seasoning, and add more salt if you think it needs it. Be careful when you stir the salt in, don't break up the super soft eggplants.
½ tsp salt
Add some freshly ground black pepper and top with parsley if you like, and serve with some plain white rice, or some Saffron Rice.
a small amount of chopped parsley, freshly ground black pepper

Notes

Khoresh Bademjan or Bademjoon is a Persian Eggplant Stew with meltingly soft eggplants in a thick, tomato based sauce with pieces of meat to make it heartier.

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Equipment

Ingredients

The Eggplants