Khoresh-e Bademjan

Ingredients

• 700g stewing lamb shoulder or beef chuck, cut into 3cm cubes
• 5 medium aubergines (about 1.2kg)
• 2 large onions
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp fine salt, plus more for the aubergines
• 150g ghooreh (unripe sour grapes), frozen or brined, or the juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 tsp ground saffron
• 150ml sunflower oil
• 700ml water

Before you cook

• Peel the aubergines and cut each one lengthways into slabs about 2cm thick.
• Salt the slabs generously on both sides, stand them in a colander and leave for 30 minutes to weep.
• Blot the aubergine slabs completely dry with kitchen paper.
• Peel and thinly slice both onions.
• Quarter the tomatoes.
• Stir the ground saffron into 2 tablespoons of just-boiled water and leave it to bloom.

Steps

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Add half the sliced onion and fry for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until deep gold.
3. Stir in the turmeric and black pepper and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
4. Add the cubed meat and brown it on all sides, around 8 minutes.
5. Pour in the water and bring the pot to a boil.
6. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour until the meat gives easily to a fork.
7. Pour the remaining oil into a wide frying pan and set it over medium-high heat.
8. Fry the aubergine slabs in batches for about 3 minutes a side, until bronzed and floppy, then lift them onto kitchen paper.
9. Fry the remaining sliced onion in the same pan for 8 minutes until golden.
10. Stir the tomato paste into the fried onion and cook it for 3 minutes, until it darkens and smells sweet rather than raw.
11. Scrape the onion and tomato paste into the meat pot and add the salt and the quartered tomatoes.
12. Lay the fried aubergine over the surface in an overlapping single layer and resist stirring it in.
13. Scatter the ghooreh over the aubergine and spoon the bloomed saffron across the top.
14. Cover and simmer as gently as the hob allows for 45 minutes, until a slick of orange oil rises and the aubergine is silky.
15. Taste the sauce and add salt or a squeeze of lime until it reads clearly tart against the sweetness of the onion.
16. Carry the pot to the table and serve with steamed basmati rice, spooning the aubergine out in whole pieces.