Meat stuffed fried eggplant

This Friday night was a day for changes, I tried fried eggplant stuffed with meat and cooked in a nice, simple sauce.  The recipe is pretty basic, it just takes a few steps, but the prep is simple and the recipe can easily be tweaked by changing a few key ingredients. I decided to serve it with a lemon; saffron scented rice and added dried cranberries for an extra kick. We loved it; it was different than my usual Shabbat meals. Here’s what you’ll need:

12 large eggplants sliced thick (1/2 inch)

1 pound kosher medium ground beef

1 onion

1 cup cherry tomatoes

½ can tomato paste

1 handful chopped parsley

Less than 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Less than 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
dash nutmeg

Oil
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
pepper

2 eggs beaten

Flour for dredging

In a bowl, mix the meat with breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp water, 2 tbsp oil, salt, pepper, a dash of nutmeg, a dash of turmeric, garlic and onion powder, mix it all up thoroughly with your hands and form the meat into flat patties. Sandwich the patty between 2 slices of eggplant, dredge all the sides in the flour then pass in the egg and fry. Set them aside to drain (you can even freeze them fried and cook them in the sauce at a later time) then in another pot sauté a diced onion, then add tomatoes whole or cut in half and let them sauté and brown a little then add half a can of tomato paste, about 1 cup and half of water, salt, pepper and let it come to a boil, then place your fried eggplants one beside the other, baste with the sauce, lower the heat to a simmer and let cook for at least 30 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking, remove the lid, make sure to baste the eggplant with the sauce and add the parsley. Serve with rice and enjoy!