Name: Hünkar beğendi review by Gamze at Dieffenbachstraße 52, Berlin, Germany
Item: Hünkar beğendi
Rating: 4.3
Author: Gamze

Hünkar beğendi is an Ottoman palace dish of lamb stew served on a bed of beğendi, a purée of fire-roasted aubergine beaten with milk, flour and kaşar cheese into something between a béchamel and a smoky mash. The name means "the sultan liked it", and the story most often told attaches it to Abdülaziz and a visit by the Empress Eugénie of France in 1869, whose cook is supposed to have asked for the recipe and been refused; the tale is unverifiable but the dish is certainly an Istanbul creation of the late Ottoman kitchen, and it survives there in the old-school lokantas of Beyoğlu and the Bosphorus and in Turkish restaurants abroad as the one dish on the menu that requires a sauce whisk. Everywhere else in Turkey the aubergine purée alone, under grilled meat or kebab, is called beğendi, and the two words are used loosely.

The stew is the easier half: cubed lamb shoulder or leg browned in butter with onion, then simmered slowly with tomato, a spoon of tomato paste, green pepper and a little water for ninety minutes or so until the meat is soft and the sauce is thick and red; thyme or bay is optional and there is no other spice. The purée is where cooks are judged. Whole aubergines are charred directly over a flame or on a grill until the skin is black and the flesh has collapsed, which is what gives the smoke, then peeled while hot, the seeds and juice drained off and the flesh chopped or crushed, never blended. In a pan, butter and flour are cooked to a blond roux, hot milk is whisked in to make a thick béchamel, the aubergine goes in and is beaten over heat until the mixture is smooth and pulls from the sides, and grated kaşar or another melting cheese is stirred in with salt and a scrape of nutmeg; lemon juice keeps it pale.

Judge the beğendi first because it is the point: it should be pale grey-white, smooth but with some aubergine texture, taste clearly of smoke and of aubergine with the cheese and milk behind, and hold a shape on the plate rather than running. The lamb should be fully tender, in recognisable pieces, in a thick sauce that stays on the meat and does not bleed across the purée. Mark down a beğendi with no smoke, which means the aubergines were baked rather than charred, one that is thin and sauce-like from too much milk, a grey or brown colour from unseeded flesh or a scorched roux, a lumpy or floury texture, and a stew that is dry or that has been made with beef and sold as the classic. A purée that tastes mainly of cheese has been padded; the cheese is a seasoning. It is served with rice or bread and needs nothing else.

Hünkar beğendi

Germany

Dieffenbachstraße 52

Restaurant serves traditional Turkish cuisine. I’ve tried Hünkar Beğendi, tantuni, tandır and baklavas, were highly delicious and with big portions. It would say a bit pricey for 2 people without alcohol 

Hünkar beğendi review by Gamze at Dieffenbachstraße 52, Berlin, Germany

Hünkar beğendi

Dieffenbachstraße 52

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