This is another eggplant dish I have been planning to share with you for a long time. It is one of five star dishes in Turkish cuisine and it is almost a must for a Turkish restaurant to serve it. Karnıyarık is loved all around Turkey and that’s why I have to write about it before it’s too late. Karnıyarık can be translated as split belly. Another funny name of a Turkish dish. Do you remember imam fainted (imambayıldı)? I don’t know if there is a story behind this one, but the name still sounds as funny as imam fainted. Their funny names are not the only similarity between these two classical Turkish dishes. They are almost the same except the addition of mince in the filling of karniyarik. As all meat dishes in Turkish cuisine, it is served hot unlike imambayildi. Imambayildi can be served cold as it is in the category of olive oil dishes, which means it is meatless. By looking at its picture, you can understand why karniyarik has such an odd name. The eggplant belly is split and stuffed with a mince filling. It is split in imambayildi as well, but this one owns the name. Imambayildi must have been invented first. And most probably, someone who was a meat fan must have suggested adding mince into the filling of imambayildi and named it as karniyarik. Now we love both versions!
Karniyarik is generally served with cacik to give a refreshing feeling with this hot meat dish.
Ingredients
- 4 eggplants (I cut one of them crosswise as it was so big)
- 150g minced beef
- 4 green peppers (2 for filling, 2 for topping)
- 2 big tomatoes (1 ½ for filling, ½ for topping)
- 1 onion, diced
- 7 tbsp olive oil (5 for eggplants, 2 for the filling)
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- ½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Wash and peel eggplants lengthwise with strips. Cut them crosswise if they are too long. Leave its stem as in picture. If you want to remove the bitterness of eggplants, wait them in salted water for 15 minutes, squeeze gently and pat with paper towel. Poke holes on each eggplant to make them cook quicker.
Lay a baking sheet in an oven tray and place the eggplants here. Then oil the eggplants (1tbsp oil for each). Cook until tender (about 30 min).
Take the eggplants out. Split their bellies gently with a knife. Give a boat shape with a spoon. (See the pictures of these steps in imambayildi post).
You can prepare the filling when you put the eggplants in oven.
Heat 2tbsp olive oil in a pan and saute the onion. Add minced beef, salt, black pepper and stir. Dice 1 tomato and add it to the pan when minced beef gets light brown. Continue stirring until there is very little water left and take it from heat. Add parsley and mix well.
Now stuff the eggplant bellies with this filling mixture and place them in an oven tray.
Slice 1 tomato and 2 peppers and place them on stuffed eggplant bellies as in picture.
Mix 1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste with 1 cup water and get a reddish water. Pour it directly in the oven tray. I didn’t pour it on eggplants not to color them. Drizzle little olive oil on each and bake them at 200C until tomatoes and green peppers are baked (about 20 min).
Don’t forget to serve it with cacik.
27 Comments on "Karniyarik"
Wow! What a beautiful presentation! I adore eggplants, and so I’m excited to see them being used in a such a creative dish.
Wonderful dish, we have a similar recipe in Lebanese cuisine called sheikh ek mehshi. Your photos are mouthwatering!!
Sevgili Zerrin,
daha dün akşam yedik, ama görünce yine iştahım kabardı…
Ne lezzetli ve muhteşem yemektir, ellerine sağlık olsun arkadaşım…
Sevgiler…
Interesting. Shall have to try this. They do look like little boots.
Now you are talking! What a fantastic recipe! I truly cannot wait to make it as I adore all of the ingredients in it. Gorgeous photos, too! Thank you SOSOSOO much. I truly am excited to see this here this morning! YUM!
Valerie
Looks decadent!
That looks good. It is a great subsitute to having a pasta dish without the carbs
Monet- Thank you! Eggplants are my favorite, too and I think they pair very well with meat.
Cherine- It’s great that we share several dishes in our cuisine. That’s why all dishes in your blog are appealing to my taste.
Dokuzuncubulut- İnsan her gün yese bıkmaz karnıyarıktan. Yanında cacık da varsa değmeyin keyfine!
Penny- I love their shapes too. And its taste is as good as the shape.
Valeire- Thank you for these nice words. I always love the combo of eggplant and mince. It’s not difficult to make and it makes a great surprise to your guests. Hope you love it when you try.
Mo- Thank you!
I love eggplants and your dish looks fantastic, I love your technique for preparing these!
What a stunning eggplant dish. It sounds fantastic.
A favorite of mine! Will have to try soon since it looks soo good.
I like the look of this eggplant and love love love turkish food. So I think I will give it a try in the future. Thank you very much for sharing this lovely recipe.
I always like eggplant. Thank you for sharing a wonderful dish and great presentation.
I can see why this is a five star dish — it’s so beautiful and elegant! Looks like a delicious meal!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I LOVE karniyarik! I grew up eating this dish and will never get sick of it. You just inspired me to make it again. It’s a great dish for those who are unsure whether they like eggplants or not because it has so much flavor, you’ll never go back
ellerine sağlık!
Love the new look of your blog! Beautiful dish….Love the colors.
I love cooking with eggplants and this would be a great recipe to try out! And the cacik sounds good too…
great eggplant recipe, thanks for sharing
sweetlife
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I have tried this before. This is one of my favorite Turkish dishes.
Beautiful presentation!
Oh I love eggplant but I’ve never tried Turkish food. This looks delicious and perhaps will be my first taste of Turkish food, ever!
Wow, what an amazing dish…a must save:)
What an absolutely yummy sounding recipe! I love the sounds of this and I was thinking that a meal of all the dishes with these wonderful names: The Iman has Fainted, and the Split Belly. Can’t wait to get other inspired ideas, Look forward to other wonderful dishes from you! Hope you are enjoying your summer.
I love eggplant and these look so delicious!
I have mostly enjoyed roasted eggplant in baba ghannouj but not as often have I seen it prepared as wonderfully as this karniyarik! I will have to look out for these more slender eggplants and give this a try.
We’re making this!
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