Mualle – Eggplants and lentils slowly braised

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 eggplant(s), long, slender
• 100 g lentils, green
• 1 m.-sized onion(s)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 bell peppers (banana peppers, the long, thin, often light green ones)
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 tbsp mint, fresh
• 1 tbsp hot paprika paste (Aci Biber Salcasi)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• ½ tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp pomegranate syrup, sour
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 10 minutes

a vegetarian dish from southern Turkey

Halve the eggplants lengthwise, then quarter them. Season with salt and let stand for 1 hour. Cover the lentils with water and simmer until just tender (takes about 20 minutes). Finely chop the onion, garlic, and mint. Halve the bell peppers, deseed them, and slice them into strips. Dice the tomatoes. Mix the onion, garlic, banana peppers, tomatoes, mint, paprika paste, tomato paste, and sugar in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a small cast-iron pot. Add 1/3 of the vegetable mixture from the bowl, then half the eggplants and half the lentils. Layer another 1/3 of the vegetable mixture, the remaining eggplants, the remaining lentils, and then the remaining vegetable mixture into the pot. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the pomegranate syrup over the vegetables. Cover the pot tightly and simmer over low heat for 60-90 minutes. Delicious with yogurt and flatbread or rice. Of course you can also serve it with meat; lamb chops or kofte go well.