Halim Bademjan | Persian Eggplant and Lentil Dish

Halim Bademjan is one of the traditional Persian dishes that you would love to taste. This dish is really tasty and it can be a great choice for your gatherings. The main ingredient of the dish is eggplant. The way this ingredient is used in the dish, makes the whole result mouthwatering.

Halim Bademjan has different recipes across Iran and it all depends on the region it is made. the similarity of all these recipes is the heavenly taste of the dish.

Halim Bademjan is very similar to Persian Halim. You can learn about this delicious traditional Persian food on our site. The consistency and the flavor are much alike.

Persian eggplant and lentil dish is main dish and can be very filling yet healthy and beneficial. Although it can be served as side dish like Kashke Bademjan.

No matter how you serve this food, it can delight everyone tasting it. still doubtful? Just try it yourself and get it by heart.

Halim Bademjan | Persian Eggplant and Lentil Dish Recips

PersianGood Team

Halim Bademjan has different recipes across Iran and it all depends on the region it is made. the similarity of all these recipes is the heavenly taste of the dish.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 hours hrs

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine persian

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 4 eggplants
• half a cup lentils
• 200 g lamb
• 2 onions
• half a cup rice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp Kashk
• half a cup walnuts
• 1 tbsp dried mint
• salt as much as required
• pepper as much as required
• oil as much as required
• turmeric as much as required

Instructions

 

• Wash and clean the lamb. When the meat is ready, put it into a pot. Peel one of the onions and then wash it carefully. Then pick one of the onions and dice it into small cubed pieces. Add the diced onion to the lamb and put the pot on low heat flame.
• For 5 minutes, stir the onion and lamb and then add turmeric to the meat. pick one of the garlic cloves and wash it. Then split it and add them to the content. put the lid of the pot and let the meat juice comes out. Now add 2-3 glasses of boiling water to the lamb and let it cook for 2-3 hours.
• While the lamb is cooking, peel the eggplants and wash them. Then put them in the colander and let them dry. Dice the eggplants into half and place them on a tray.
• Sprinkle some salt on the eggplants and let the bitter taste vanishes away. This process takes almost 30minutes.
• Soak the lentils and rinse them. As you might know, you’d better soak the legumes the night before to have them well cooked. Place the lentils in a pot and add 2 to 3 glasses of water to it and heat it up. At first, let the pot be on the highest flame to bring the water into the boil. Then reduce the flame and let the lentils cook properly.
• When the lentils are cooked, wash the rice and discard the water and add it to the cooked lentils. Wait until the rice is well cooked and becomes smashed. Then discard the pot from the gas burner and put it aside.
• Wash the eggplants and rinse them in order to wash their salt away. Press them a little to drain their juice. Pick a big frying pan and grease it with oil. Then heat the pan to have hot oil.
• Place the eggplants in the frying pan to have them fried. The flame must be low. You can sprinkle some turmeric on the frying eggplants. Flip them while one side is fried perfectly. Then place them in a colander or simply put them on a napkin to remove the extra oil.
• Wash the pan and again put it on the gas burner. Wash the remained onions and dice them into silvered shape. Grease the pan and let the oil becomes hot and then fry the silvered onions. When the color of the silvered onions turn golden, then place them in a colander and let the oil comes out.
• Pick the remaining garlic cloves and grate them. Stir fry the grated garlic and discard them from the pan.
• Heat 4 to 5 tbsp of the oil up on a low heat flame. Then sprinkle 2 tbsp of dried mint into the hot oil and stir them for 2 minutes. Remember that the color of the mint should not changes to the dark color.
• When the meat is completely cooked, discard the lamb particles out of its juice and place them in a colander. The remaining juice of the meat must be one cup. Let the cubed meat cools down and then shred them into pieces. Place the shredded meat into the pot with the juice of the meat again.
• Add the lentil and rice mixture and the eggplants into the pot. Add some brewed saffron to the pot, too. Put the pot on a low heat flame. Let the ingredients cook for more 15-20minutes. When the water of the content is vaporized, discard the content and mix them into the mixer or an electric whisk.
• At last, add 2 tbsp of the Kashk to the content and stir them properly. Put a little amount of Piaz Dagh or Sir Dagh for a garnish, aside. Your delicious Halim Bademjan is ready. Have fun!

Tips for having a better Halim Bademjan

• Remember to tenderize the meat because it helps you have a better quality halim bademjan.
• You can use a mixer, electric whisk or tenderizer.
• You can use the meat, which is a little fatty. The best meat used for making halim bademjoon is the red meat having bones.
• Better not to add water to the cooking meat because it changes the flavor.
• You can use lentils instead of rice or vice versa. Remember that using lentils make your dish darker.
• You can boil the kashk for a while, before adding it to the ingredients.

Making Halim bademjan with chicken

You can make halim bademjan with chicken if you do not like red meat. You need to cook the chicken with an onion and some additives. When the chicken is well cooked, then add the chicken to the ready eggplants and make the dish. The time of adding chicken is exactly like lamb. So you can follow the instruction listed above and make your chicken halim bademjan.

Halim Bademjan, a Popular Dish from Iran!

There are many different popular Persian dishes. A very interesting point about Persian cuisine is that you cannot find two exact same recipes in different cities. Each city has its own recipes and its own perception of delicious dish! Surprisingly, different recipes have one special feature in common and that is their fabulous taste. Halim bademjoon is made differently in Shiraz, Kerman and Isfahan and you can recognize which is from where. At the same time, they all are known as Halim Bademjan and they taste like that. The other wonderful point is that the difference is made by adding less than 2 ingredients or minor changes in the amounts.

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