Mom and dad came and have been with us for a few days, which means we have feast like dinners thanks to mom, a super cook. Hubby and I prepared macaroni with mushroom and tomatoes paired with a fresh green salad for dinner on the day they came. I know it’s a simple menu when compared to mom’s, but we didn’t have enough time to prepare something more complex. They were so kind to love what they had on their plate, and both asked for second. When we were having black tea after dinner, mom asked if there was something we wanted her to cook. She is always devoted herself to her children and she can make anything to make us happy. As she knows we work hard, she is never lazy to prepare the most difficult dishes for us whenever she visits us. So was there anything we wanted to eat? After hearing her question, I visualized the veggies in our refrigerator and remembered we only had some eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. I asked the question this time: What can we make with these? Then came the great idea from dad: Dilme! It is one of the dishes stayed in my childhood. I totally forgot to cook it after leaving home. So we made dilme for dinner that day. I mean mom made and I helped her. And I remembered how scrumptious this eggplant dish is and hubby loved it too. Thank you mom!
Dilme is a Turkish word that means slicing. We slice eggplants for this dish, not cutting them totally. Actually, dilme is a special dish at Çukurova region (South of Turkey) and unfortunately not known by many people in other regions of Turkey. As an eggplant lover, I think dilme is one of the best dishes made from eggplant. You will find it delicious even if you don’t like eggplant much as green lentils give a very nice flavor to it. It might become a favorite dish of vegetarians as well.
Dilme is eaten either plain or with a yogurt sauce.
Dilme
Ingredients (serving: 8 )
- 10 eggplants
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 green pepper
- 1 chili pepper(optional)
- 6 small tomatoes
- 1 cup green lentil
- 1 tbsp pepper paste
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 cup water
Sauce
- 1 cup yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
Wash eggplants and peel them in pyjamas (as in the picture). Do not cut their heads.
The eggplants we used were more like Japanese eggplants, so mom first cut them in two so that it would be easy to place them in a pot. So if your eggplants are long, cut them crosswise. Then slice them lengthwise, but do not cut them at the end (as in the picture). Eggplants are ready when you finish slicing all.
Then prepare its filling. Chop all the vegetables. Wash the lentils and add it. Then add pepper paste. You can use tomato paste if you don’t have it.
Add 2 tbsp olive oil in this mixture. You can increase the amount of olive oil if you like. But I think it’s enough as we pour another 2tbsp olive oil on the eggplants when all of them are finished. Add salt, dried basil and black pepper. We forgot to put it but you can also use dried mint.
Mix everything and stuff the filling mixture between each slice as in the picture.
Place the stuffed eggplants in a pot carefully. Pour 1 cup water in the pot and cook it over high heat for 3 minutes, then bring it to the lowest and cook for 45 minutes. Serve it hot or warm.
For the yogurt sauce, mix mashed garlic with yogurt. And drizzle it on dilmes.
Mom becomes happy when she makes us happy. So everyone ate this eggplant dish heartily with yum yum sounds, and we were all happy after such an appetizing dish. Hubby wanted to take a photo of happy mom and daughter, so here it is.
38 Comments on "Eggplant With Lentil"
Perfect recipe! I have an eggplant in the fridge and lentils in the pantry.
That’s a great photo of you with your Mother. And, dilme sounds delicious. I love a mix of vegetables with lentils, and this must be fantastic with the pepper paste.
What an appetizing dish, dear Zerrin!! A georgous picture of your mom & you!
You two look beautiful!!
What a lovely picture of you and your mom! She sounds like an amazing cook — this eggplant dish looks fantastic!
Monet- So you are ready to make dilme. You’ll se how easy and tasty it is.
Lisa- Thank you! I agree, lentils make vegetable dishes more tasty. And guess what? That pepper paste is also made by mom.
Sophie- Thank you! I’m not sure if we are really beautiful or the dishes mom cooks make us look beautiful
Faith- Thank you! I feel so lucky to be the daughter of her not only beacuse I eat a lot of scrumptious dishes but also because I learn a lot from her.
Oh my! These is just fantastic!
Hi, what a lovely dish, eggplant is one of my favorite vegetable and lentil as well. I would really love to try this. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Love love love to see your mom smile like that, and you are very pretty Zerrin, now I know where is your pretty face come from. Eggplant sounds delicious, I might try to make it one day. Yum!!!
Magic of Spice- Thank you!
Cook With Madin- So two of your favorite ingredients are combined in this recipe. I’m sure you will love it then.
Elra- Thank you so much for your nice words. You’re so kind. The best about this dish is that it’s so easy to make if you have the necessary ingredients.
I am usually not a fan of eggplant, but this sound like a very appetizing and delicious recipe
Yes, I love the mother-daughter picture! Beautiful dish! I love the inspiration for using eggplant. Sometimes I overlook it because I’m at a loss of how to prepare it. This looks wonderful!
What a beautiful family recipe and beautiful family photo. Was the dark dollop on top of the fresh veggies “pepper paste”? It looked more like an olive paste. What does it taste like? What peppers is it made from? Do you have a recipe for it?
The dish look fantastick.:)
Valerie
Oh what a wonderful recipe, eggplants stuffed with lentils, that is so my kind of dish! simply delicious! what a kind and loving mom you have, you guys look adorable on that picture, lucky you to live close to your mom!
I love helping my mom in the kitchen. She always makes something wonderful and comforting. This dish looks great. Thanks for sharing.
Looks so healthy and good!
I’ve never heard about this dish, but looks yummy. I would love to try it!! Gorgeous pix with ur mom!!
Dear Zerrin!
Greetings!
A lovely combination!
The Japanese love their egg-plants and they even have a variety called mizu nasu/water egg plant that can be eaten raw!
Pity the Japanese do not appreciate lentls much!LOL
Thank you so much for sharing!
Best regards,
Robert-Gilles
What a creative way to cook eggplant! My mom would love this. Looks very delicious. Really so heart warming to know your mom and dad visit you. I’m sure there’s so much food, fun and laughter around. Both you and your mom look so sweet!
A wonderful healthy dish and a terrific combination of ingredients! I love the yogurt sauce on top. Great picture of you and your mom!
Kiki- Lentils add a very nice flavor to eggplants in this dish. Hope you like it when you try.
Sommer- I wouldn’t have remembered this eggplant dish if dad hadn’t reminded. But I will cook it more often as hubby loved the combination of eggplants and lentils too.
Valerie- Yes that is pepper paste, which is made by mom. Although it’s possible to find it at markets here, mom prefers to make it herself. Red bell peppers are used for it. Mom and dad make a big amount of pepper paste every summer. THey make it in Summer as it is dried under sun. Unfortunately I don’t have its recipe, but mainly peppers are peeled by a machine, mashed, mixed with salt and dried under sun. I’m planning to write a post on how to make pepper paste some day.
Citronetvanille- Thank you! Actually, they are living in a city 10 hours away from us, but luckily they visit us often.
Cooking With Kait- I love it too. That’s way I can learn.
Penny- Thank you!
Cherine- Hope you love it when you try.
Robert- Thank you for your addition. Haven’t heard of that mizu nasu before, but I used to eat eggplants raw as a child. They odore rice, don’t they? That may be the reason why they don’t appreciate lentils.
MaryMoh- It was like a feast everyday. Looking forward to their next visit.
Natasha- I do love that yogurt sauce. I can eat anything with it.
Impressive picture of you and you Mom! Eggplant is a classic in my kitchen but not with yogurt sauce and lentils – very interesting combination
Have a great week!
Gera
I’m making this right now, and it smells great!
I love those meals that come together from what is already in the refrigerator. And the pictures are great!
whats a great idea to put these both together awesome and thanks as always for your comments!
What a beautiful picture of you and your mom! This looks like a really delicious eggplant dish. I’m going to try it soon.
That’s such a sweet picture of mom and daughter! I’ve never heard of this dish before but it sounds so tasty!
It was so wonderful to see the photo of you and your mother. I also loved the recipe you shared with us today. It looks and sounds delicious. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…MAry
The pictures look so tempting.wow!delicious!
Zerrincim (benden çok küçüksün izin verirsen böyle hitap etmek isterim), annenin yanağına kocaman bir öpücük de benim için kondur lütfen… Tarifine bayıldım. Ellerine sağlık olsun.
İkinize de sevgiler…
I have lentils and tomatoes from the garden! This looks like the perfect dish, with only some eggplants to buy today. Thank you so much for sharing it.
What a great recipe of eggplant! Mom homemade meal is the best!
So glad to hear you are having fun with your parents. It sounds like a wonderful time, and what a great picture.
If you say this is a wonderful eggplant recipe, that’s all I need to know. I love eggplant and am always looking for new and delicious recipes to try. This one sounds amazing!
You are both beautiful, what a lovely picture. I used lentils recently and found out I liked it. My mother is a big fan of lentils also. Nice recipe.
Maybe I was Turkish in a former life – I just love everything about this dish! And lovely to see the picture of you and your Mom – both gorgeous
Zerrin,
This is the first time I saw the dish, Dilme. It looks amazing to me as a eggplant and green lentil lover. I will definitely try it. I am sure I will love it.
By the by, I love your blog…
iffet
This dish looks great! You have so many great recipes on your blog, it’s hard to pick what to make
I love your stories about Turkey by the way, makes me want to go on vacation to visit!
oh my goodness….this looks mouthwatering, and i love eggplants, going to try it for ure. thanks for the recipe!
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