Hünkâr beğendi, or simply beğendi (literally “the sultan liked it”), is a dish based on eggplants and meat (lamb or beef) from Ottoman cuisine.
Legend has it that this dish was created during a hunting trip when
Sultan Murad IV suddenly got hungry and asked for food.
His men found the nearest hut, where the cook was more than willing to prepare a meal for the sultan.
In the kitchen, however, there wasn’t much left. The cook gathered all the scraps he had.
Some eggplants, a bit of meat. Then he served the dish to the sultan.
At the end of the meal, the sultan called the cook, asking for the name of the dish.
The cook answered honestly. The dish didn’t have a name. It had been prepared not according to a recipe, but with what was available in the kitchen at that late hour.
—Then the dish will be called “hünkâr beğendi”, answered the sultan, meaning “the sultan liked it”.
But it’s just a legend because Murad IV lived more than a century before the arrival of the tomato, another fundamental ingredient of the stew.
The eggplants are grilled until the skin burns, giving them a smoky flavor, then blended and thickened with a béchamel sauce to form the beğendi sauce.
Another sauce based on eggplants grilled on the gas flame and slightly smoked:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Stove
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Hünkâr beğendi:
- 1.1 lbs lamb (or beef)
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 14 oz tomatoes
- to taste thyme
- to taste oregano
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt and pepper
- 2.2 lbs eggplant
- 3.5 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk
- to taste salt and pepper
Steps
Roast the eggplants directly on the gas flame.
Remove the skin and chop the pulp.
Sauté the diced lamb in oil with salt and pepper. Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, thyme, and oregano.
Add the broth.
Cook for 45 minutes.
For the beğendi sauce: melt the butter, add the flour, milk. Mix. Adjust salt and pepper and finally the eggplants.
Serve with the sauce as a base and the lamb on top.
FAQ
Who was Sultan Murad IV?
Murad IV, known as the Warrior (in Turkish: مراد رابع, Murād-i rābi‘; Constantinople, July 27, 1612 – Constantinople, February 9, 1640), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 until his death. His death marks the end of the transformation period of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of its decline.
