Toothpick kebab (Kürdan Kebabı)

 

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant

2 tomatoes (peeled and sliced in the shape of half moon)

1 pepper (for decoration, any kind or color)

Oil (for frying eggplants)

Some toothpicks

For meatballs:

½ lb ground beef

1 medium-size onion (finely chopped or grated)

¾ cups of bread crumbs

1 egg

Salt, black pepper, cumin, red pepper to taste

For sauce:

1 tbsp tomato or red pepper paste

1 cup of water

Directions:

1-Cut the eggplant lengthwise in half

2- Then slice them also lengthwise, but perpendicular to the first cut. (Slices are going to be narrow not wide.)

3-Fry them in oil and place them on a paper towel to drain extra oil.

Preparation of the meatballs:

1-In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients and knead them until the mixture holds together and becomes like dough.

2-Divide the meatball dough into walnut-size pieces and roll them in your palm into ball shape.

3-Take two slices of fried eggplant and place them crossed (like plus sign +).

4-Place a meatball in the center of the crossed slices and wrap it like a gift.

5-Put one piece of pepper and one slice of tomato to the top.

Insert a toothpick into the center through the tomato slice, pepper, eggplant and meatball. 

6-Place the kebab on the baking sheet.

7-Prepare the sauce by mixing tomato paste and water. 

8-Pour the sauce on the kebabs.

9-Preheat the oven to 400 °F and bake the kebabs until meatballs are cooked.

Afiyet olsun!