Tepsi Baytinijan
This is an eggplant dish.

Ok, this dish takes a little bit longer to make than the other stuff, but it is really easy.

All you need is a 20 cm round cake pan, or a rectangular cake pan that is not too deep.

Ingredients:

2 large eggplant
2 large tomatoes
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
1/3 kilogram ground beef
2 medium potatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
pepper
salt
corn oil

1. Peel the eggplant in wide stripes and cut off the stem. Slice the eggplant in circular pieces (not lengthwise)- each piece should be about 1 inch thick.

2. Peel and slice the potatoes into 1 inch thick round slices, set aside. Slice the onions the same way. Peel the garlic and crush it using one of those little garlic contraptions. Slice the tomatoes.

3. Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a non-stick pan and fry the eggplant slices until each piece is light golden. In the same oil, lightly fry the potatoes- they don't have
to cook all the way through. Set aside. In the same pan, fry the onion, and set aside. Drain the fried pieces on some paper towels.

4. Mix the ground beef, half of the crushed garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Make small meatballs and fry them. Set aside.

5. Mix about 2 1/2 cups of water with 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, the remainder of the crushed garlic, salt (about 3 teaspoons), and pepper (preferably white pepper) and... you guessed it... set aside.

6. Inside the cake pan/baking dish, arrange the eggplant pieces all touching eachother and layered if necessary. On top of the eggplant, arrange the potato slices, then the onion, then the slices of tomato on the ver top (which wasn't fried). Pour the tomato paste mixture on top of all of this. I can't believe I forgot to add this: arrange the meatballs in between the tomato slices, spreading them evenly.

7. You now either cook this 'tepsi' for around 40 minutes on a medium stove, covering the top with a lid or steel tray and just allowing it to simmer and bubble until the tomato sauce thickens, but doesn't dry... or you bake it in a medium oven for about an hour, watching it so that nothing burns.

8. This dish is served with Basmati rice or any other kind of rice... we prefer Basmati or 'Ammbar'.

Alternatives:
Add some coriander or parsley to the sauce before cooking.
- posted by river @ 2:02 AM