Not a photogenic meal and I was worried that the eggplant would not survive the move. We served this Turkish style meal with Basmati rice.

This dish is a labor of love due to the long cook times, not a week day meal. The eggplant is cut in half and brushed with olive oil, salt, pepper and roasted for twenty minutes. While the eggplant cooks, saute an onion with cumin, paprika, and ground cinnamon. After cooking for eight minutes, add the lamb, pine nuts, parsley, tomato paste, sugar, salt and black pepper. After another eight minutes of cooking, the meat mixture is topped onto the eggplant. The entire dish is then cooked for one and a half hours.

We enjoyed this dish as it was something different. My husband did not think it had enough spices. We did not have tamarind paste and I am not sure if that was it. My husband also thought raisins would be a good addition to the dish.