Turkish güveç

Ingredients:

• 600g lamb pieces
• 250g chopped tomatoes
• 2 large onions
• 2 small aubergines/eggplant
• 1 small green & yellow (or red) pepper
• 5 baby potatoes (optional)
• 5 garlic cloves
• 125ml tomato paste
• 80ml rosewater
• 450ml mutton stock
• 1 tbsp. coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp. cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. black pepper corns
• 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. red vinegar
• 2 tbsp. oil for frying
• lots of salt for aubergines

Steps:

Place the cumin, coriander seeds, salt & black pepper corns in a grinder and it grind it up to a coarse powder. Put half the mix over the lamb, let it absorb the spices.

Fry the lamb in 2 tbsp. oil over a high eat. Fry the lamb until brown and caramelized on the outside, then remove from the heat.

Slice the aubergines into circles and sprinkle over salt to lightly cover each aubergine circle. Let it sit to draw the liquid out the aubergine – important step otherwise it will taste bitter.

Slice the onions into 8 quarters, cube the peppers, dice the tomatoes, half the potatoes, and finely dice the garlic.

To a clay dish/pot, layer your seared lamb at the bottom, then add the onions, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and garlic.

Add the remaining ground up spices, red wine vinegar and sugar. Coat all the veggies with the spices and sugar. Once the liquid has drawn out of the aubergines, rinse them under water thoroughly and then cut into cubes. Add it to the clay dish/pot.

Add the rosewater to the dish, then mix together the tomato paste and mutton stock and pour over everything. If you leave out the potatoes you can use less stock.

Cover the clay dish with foil to keep more heat in, then add the clay lid.

Put it in a preheated oven on 250 degrees, let it cook for 2 hours with the lid on. After 2 hours, remove the lid and foil and give it stir, and let it cook for a further hour without the foil and lid so the sauce can reduce and thicken.

Remove from the oven after an hour, or until the sauce has reduced and thickened, and let it cool for 20 minutes before serving. Finish with a yoghurt, cucumber, lemon, sauce topped with toasted cumin seeds, and a garlic chili oil.

Serve with fragrant rice and flatbreads.

Enjoy!