Khoresh Bademjan

A Persian favourite of tender beef and silky fried aubergine in a tomato and saffron sauce, brightened with verjuice or lemon.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 45 min
Cook: 2h 10m
Total: 2 hours 55 minutes
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
6 people
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 600g stewing beef, cut into 3cm cubes
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 3 tbsp tomato purée
  • 700g aubergines (2 large), peeled in stripes and cut into 3cm slices
  • 1 tbsp salt, for the aubergines
  • About 8 tbsp sunflower oil, for frying
  • 3 small ripe tomatoes, halved
  • 60ml verjuice (ab-ghooreh) or 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • ¼ tsp saffron threads, ground and steeped in 2 tbsp hot water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper

Method

  1. Layer the aubergine slices in a colander with the 1 tbsp salt and leave for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat completely dry.

  2. Heat the 3 tbsp oil in a large pot and fry the onions for 12 minutes until golden. Stir in the turmeric, then add the beef and brown for 8-10 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée for 2 minutes.

  3. Add 600ml hot water, the salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour 15 minutes until the beef is tender.

  4. Meanwhile, shallow-fry the aubergine in batches in hot oil for 3-4 minutes per side until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Briefly sear the halved tomatoes in the same pan.

  5. Stir the saffron water and verjuice into the stew. Arrange the aubergine and tomatoes on top without stirring, cover and simmer very gently for 25 minutes. Serve with chelo.