Güveç: Traditional Turkish Dish With Aubergines (Plus Vegan&Vegetarian Versions)
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Everyone has a quick, simple and heartwarming recipe up their sleeves. After a long and tiring day or a sick day, some dishes warm you up and refresh you anew. This one is my favourite. I love the combination of aubergines and tomatoes slowly cooked in low heat. The aroma of this combination is, in my opinion, perfect. Although I have to admit, I love aubergine with yoghurt, with bechamel sauce, with lots of lemon juice and olive oil and with many different companionships that I can't remember right now. I love it grilled, cooked slowly inside hot ashes -of which we call this process "közlemek" in Turkish, I love it stir-fried, deep-fried, sauteed.
This one though is maybe the easiest one. The only nit-picky process of this recipe is the part where you have to soak aubergines in salty water for an hour and then squeeze them to get rid of the bitter taste. Other than that you just stack each ingredient one by one and closed the lid to let it slowly come to a boil in low heat.
The word "Güveç" is actually the name of this cooking technique going back to the 10th-century Seljuk Empire period, maybe even earlier. Of course in the old times, they were only using terracotta pots called "çömlek" placed above the fire and then the pot itself also covered with hot coals. But now we cook Güveç in the oven usually. But you can also cook it on the stovetop. The terracotta pots are also still available everywhere and also called "güveç" now.
Alas, I decided to use a cast-iron pot this time having not resisted the colourful look of these pots.
Note For Vegans and Vegatarians:
This time I cooked this recipe with meat however, I often substitute meat with button or wild mushrooms or simply leave them out, too. And use olive oil instead of butter. But I usually slice the onions thin and spread on top of everything instead of placing a whole one on top in the meaty version. Since "Güveç" is the name of the technique, think of it as you can add anything as long as they complement each other. What makes this technique delicious is that you don't stir the ingredients, you don't touch anything and they slowly cook and melt together in low heat.
If you use mushrooms, treat the mushrooms as meat and rub them with peppers and pepper paste, like meat. If you don't use mushrooms, just sprinkle the spices and paste on top of the onions. If you want me to make a separate post for the vegan version let me know in the comments. :)
400 gr mushrooms and 8 tablespoon olive oil would be enough.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
250 gr veal or lamb, cut into big cubes
5 aubergines, cut into large cubes.
5-6 green pepper, hot if possible, and sliced thin or thick.
4-5 tomatoes, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
5-6 stems of parsley
4 tbsp butter, heaped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tbsp butter, heaped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Turkish red pepper paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp salt
Method
Rub your preference of meat with red pepper flakes, black pepper, and Turkish red pepper paste. Place them in the bottom of the pot and spread evenly. Spread the half of the butter above the meat. Set aside the rest for later.
Peel the aubergines in stripes. Cut them into big chunky cubes. In a big bowl, soak them with cold freshwater with a tbsp of salt for an hour preferably or 30 minutes.
Then rinse the aubergines under running water and squeeze them in your hands, one handful at a time, to get rid of the bitter taste. They shouldn't be watery. Place them on top of the meat evenly. You can press them a little with your palms to make the surface even.
Place the garlic over the aubergines.
Place the sliced peppers evenly.
Place the tomatoes over the peppers.
Place the parsley on top of everything and into the middle place the whole onion. Add the rest of the butter.
Cover the lid. You can either cook it on the stove on low heat or cook it in the oven with 1800C heat.
Kapağını kapatıp kısık ateşte yavaş yavaş pişirin. Kaynadıktan sonra 30dk daha pişirin ve ocaktan alın.
Bon Appetit,
The pot I used is from:
Silver Cusinero Cast Iron Deep Pot 20 cm Claret Red
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