Patlıcanlı kebap

Thick slices of aubergine threaded onto a flat skewer alternately with balls of hand-chopped lamb, grilled over charcoal until the aubergine collapses and the meat chars, then slid off onto lavash with grilled peppers and tomato: patlıcanlı kebap is the Gaziantep kebab that depends on the vegetable as much as the meat. It is a summer dish in the south-east, made when the thin, pale local aubergines are in season, and it appears on menus from Antep to Adana and Şanlıurfa under the same name or as patlıcan kebabı. The construction is the point. The aubergine is not a side; it is cut to the same diameter as the meat, pressed against it on the skewer, and the fat rendering from the lamb bastes it as it cooks, so each slice arrives soft and smoky and tasting of the meat it sat next to. In Antep it is often finished in the oven on a tray with a tomato sauce poured over, which is a legitimate second form.