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Hünkar Beğendi (Sultan's Delight)

Asia › Turkey
serves 6 1 hr 40 min Hard 8 versions
Dinner For Guests Baked Stovetop
Meat Dishes

Kebab with Beğendi, Spice Bag

One of 8 versions of Hünkar Beğendi (Sultan's Delight). The table below shows how their ingredients differ.

Ingredients

Servings 6 people
  • 600 gram diced lamb
  • 110 gram margarine
  • 100 gram onion
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 dessert spoon salt
  • 1 piece spice bag
  • 2.5 water glass (200 ml) water
  • 1 kilogram aubergine
  • 80 gram flour
  • 1 litre milk
  • 80 gram grated kaşar cheese
  • half piece lemon

How to make it

Open in kitchen mode
  1. Peel the onion and cut it into small cubes.
  2. Melt 30 grams of the fat in a medium pan over a medium heat.
  3. Once the fat begins to get hot, add the diced lamb and turn the heat up.
  4. Saute for 5-6 minutes, stirring now and then with a skimmer, until it turns pink.
    6 min
  5. Add the onion to the meat in the pan and cook for a few minutes more.
  6. Put in the tomato paste and fry for a few minutes.
  7. Sprinkle in the salt, add the spice bag and turn the heat down.
  8. Set a bowl upside down over the pan and pour 1 glass of hot water down the side of it.
  9. Close the lid of the pan tightly.
  10. Cook the kebab over a low heat for 8-10 minutes.
    10 min
  11. Once it has absorbed the liquid, add the remaining 1.5 glasses of hot water and cook for about 20 minutes more, until the meat is tender.
    20 min
  12. While the kebab cooks, make the beğendi: squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a largish pan and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
  13. Cook the aubergines, over charcoal if you can, otherwise in hot oil or in the oven, turning them, until they soften and begin to weep in places.
  14. Cut off their stalks and put them in the pan with the salt and the lemon.
  15. Add enough water to cover them and leave them to cool.
  16. Peel the skins off the cooled aubergines with a sharp knife and throw them away.
  17. Transfer the flesh of the aubergines to another bowl.
  18. Bring the milk to the boil and set it aside.
  19. Heat the remaining 80 grams of fat in a medium pan over a medium heat.
  20. Once the fat begins to get hot, add the flour.
  21. Cook the roux, stirring it often with a wooden spoon.
  22. When the flour begins to turn golden, cook it for a few minutes more, then take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool.
  23. Once the roux has cooled, put the pan back over a medium heat.
  24. Work the hot milk into the roux a little at a time, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula.
  25. Cook over a very low heat for 10 minutes.
    10 min
  26. Squeeze the aubergines well, chop them very finely and add them to the roux.
  27. Cook for 5-6 minutes more, stirring with a whisk.
    6 min
  28. Add the grated kaşar cheese, stir it in and take the pan off the heat.
Tips

When you take the pan off the heat the kebab should have about 1 glass of sauce; if it has absorbed its liquid you can add a little hot water.

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Hünkar Beğendi (Sultan's Delight) versions

They are all the same dish; the table below lists only the ingredients that set them apart. Ingredients common to every version (flour, salt, oil) are left out — they make no difference.

Classic base Baked Beğendi only Marinated meat With lamb chops With minced meat With spice bag With tomato
Ingredient Classic Baked Beğendi only Marinated meat With lamb chops With minced meat With spice bag With tomato
flour ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
kaşar cheese ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
milk ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
lemon ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — — ✓ ✓
onion ✓ ✓ — ✓ — ✓ ✓ ✓
tomato ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓
butter — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — — ✓
lamb ✓ ✓ — ✓ — — — —
margarine ✓ ✓ — — — — ✓ —
paste — ✓ — ✓ — — — ✓
pepper — — — ✓ ✓ — — ✓
water — ✓ — — — — ✓ ✓
black pepper — ✓ — — — ✓ — —
diced lamb — — — — — — ✓ ✓
parsley — ✓ — — ✓ — — —
basil — ✓ — — — — — —
bay leaf — ✓ — — — — — —
coconut — — ✓ — — — — —
garlic sauce — ✓ — — — — — —
lamb chops — — — — ✓ — — —
lettuce — — — — — ✓ — —
minced meat — — — — — ✓ — —
oil — ✓ — — — — — —
olive oil — — — — — ✓ — —
oregano — ✓ — — — — — —
processed cheese — — — — — ✓ — —
spice bag — — — — — — ✓ —
spices — — — — — — — ✓
tomato paste — — — — — — ✓ —

Classic

serves 6 1 hr 25 min

The classic recipe, in which meat cooked with tomatoes is served with a hot beğendi puree made at the moment of serving.

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Baked

serves 6 1 hr 40 min

A palace-style kebab in which the meat goes into an earthenware dish, is layered with kaşar cheese and beğendi, and then rests in the oven.

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Beğendi only

serves 4 35 min

No meat, just the beğendi: a puree in which charred aubergine is worked into a bechamel made with milk.

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Marinated meat

serves 4 6 hr 10 min

A kebab in which meat marinated for 5-6 hours in onion juice is served with a puree of charred aubergines.

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With lamb chops

serves 2 35 min

A single serving: grilled lamb chops on a bed of beğendi.

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With minced meat

serves 4 40 min

A quick beğendi in which the puree of charred aubergines is mixed with minced meat and processed cheese.

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With tomato

serves 6 1 hr 20 min

Diced lamb cooked with tomatoes and tomato paste, on a beğendi built with cold milk.

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