The Culture Portal's Gaziantep recipe describes fire-roasted eggplant finely mashed with strained yogurt and garlic, topped with moist cooked mince. This home version uses lamb, ready-strained yogurt and an oven with a brief broiler finish for the eggplants.
Alinazik Kebabı — Recipe Card
Coarsely minced lamb over roasted eggplant with garlic yogurt
Makes 4 servings · Four main-course portions. Allow about 1 hour 20 minutes, including 10 minutes for the roasted eggplant to drain.US cup = 240 ml · tablespoon = 15 ml · teaspoon = 5 ml. Cup and weight conversions are approximate. Australian cooks: use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon.
Ingredient quantities and servings are scaled. Cooking times, pan sizes, frying oil depth, and temperatures stay the same; cook larger batches as needed.
Ingredients
How to make Alinazik Kebabı
Roast and blister the eggplants
Heat a conventional oven to 230°C / 450°F. Wash the eggplants, dry them and prick the skins several times. Put on a foil-lined rimmed baking tray. Roast for 35–45 minutes, turning after 20 minutes, until the flesh collapses and a knife meets no resistance. Finish under a hot broiler / overhead grill for 3–5 minutes, watching closely, to darken patches of skin. Thick eggplants may need longer to soften.
Peel and drain
Let the eggplants cool just enough to handle. Remove the skins and stalks, keeping burnt skin out of the flesh. Put the flesh in a sieve over a bowl and drain for 10 minutes. Chop very finely on a board, then mash with a fork until soft and almost smooth.
Cook the lamb
While the eggplant drains, melt the clarified butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the lamb and break it into coarse crumbles. Cook for 7–9 minutes, stirring, until cooked through and reaching 71°C / 160°F. Stir in 3 g / ½ teaspoon of the salt, the black pepper and sweet paprika. Add the measured 30 ml / 2 tablespoons water and simmer for 1 minute, leaving a little moist juice rather than frying the meat dry. Cover and take off the heat briefly while finishing the base.
Warm the yogurt base
Put the chopped eggplant in a clean saucepan and warm over low heat for 1–2 minutes, stirring. Gradually fold in the strained yogurt, garlic and remaining 6 g / 1 teaspoon salt. Stir gently over very low heat for 2–3 minutes, just until the mixture is warm. Take off the heat before it boils.
Plate and serve
Spread the warm eggplant-yogurt mixture in a thin layer over four plates or one wide serving platter. Spoon the lamb and its paprika-butter juices over the top, sharing evenly between four portions. Serve immediately.
Bring this recipe to your kitchen with a printable copy.
Print recipeRecipe from MyTurkishRecipes · https://myturkishrecipes.com/turkish-minced-lamb-with-eggplant-yogurt-alinazik-kebabi. Quantities reflect your selected serving scale. Cooking times are estimates; follow the doneness cues.
A few helpful kitchen notes
Dietary notes
Gluten-free with the gluten-free-labelled yogurt and pure sweet paprika specified here. Contains milk from the yogurt and clarified butter. Use gluten-free-labelled pul biber for the hotter variation.
Heat level
Mild with sweet paprika and black pepper. For a hotter version, replace 1 g of the paprika with 1 g / ½ teaspoon hot pul biber; keep the other quantities unchanged.
Choosing yogurt
Use thick, unsweetened strained yogurt with some tang. Plain whole-milk Greek-style yogurt works at the same 350 g / 12.3 oz; it should be pasteurized, gluten-free-labelled and gelatin-free.
Eggplant texture
The flesh should be completely soft before peeling. Draining removes excess liquid, and fine knife-chopping gives a smooth base with a little texture. The oven method here adapts the traditional fire-roasted preparation for a home kitchen.
How to store and reheat Alinazik Kebabı
Keep the lamb and eggplant-yogurt base separate when possible. Refrigerate in shallow containers within 2 hours, or within 1 hour above 32°C / 90°F. Store at 4°C / 40°F or below and use within 2 days. Reheat only the portions needed, stirring the base gently over low heat and moistening the lamb with a splash of water, until both are steaming throughout and reach 74°C / 165°F. The yogurt may separate slightly during reheating.
Alinazik Kebabı: questions and answers
Why drain the eggplant?
Liquid released by the roasted flesh can thin the yogurt base. A short drain gives a mixture that spreads on the plate and supports the meat without becoming watery.
Can I use beef instead of lamb?
Use the same 400 g / 14.1 oz of coarsely ground beef, not extra-lean. Cook to 71°C / 160°F and follow the same seasoning and moisture steps. The flavour will differ from the lamb version.
Why should the yogurt mixture stay below a boil?
Boiling can split the yogurt and make the base grainy. Fold it into the warmed eggplant gradually, use low heat and serve as soon as the mixture is warm.
