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Tepsi Baytinijan (Aubergine and Meatball Tray Bake)

Name: Tepsi Baytinijan (Aubergine and Meatball Tray Bake)
Prep time: 1 h 45 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: eggplant — 700 g; salt — 10 g; sunflower oil — 276 g; lamb — 400 g; onion — 80 g; baharat — 7 g; salt — 5 g; potatoes — 450 g; tomatoes — 400 g; onions — 240 g; green bell pepper — 150 g; garlic — 18 g; tomato paste — 44 g; tamarind paste — 30 g; water — 400 g

Tepsi Baytinijan (Aubergine and Meatball Tray Bake) reads umami 6.1, richness 6.0 and salinity 4.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Iraqi main, about 2 hr 15 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.7 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 5.4 / 10
Sour & Bright — 4.9 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 3.4 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.5 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.1 · Richness 6.0 · Salinity 4.9 · Sweetness 4.7 · Allium 4.4 · Sourness 4.2 · Earthy 3.2 · Fruity 2.5 · Citrus 2.4 · Nutty 1.7 · Bitterness 1.7 · Herbaceous 1.2 · Funk & Ferment 1.1 · Warm Spice 0.8 · Floral 0.7

What's in it (15)

eggplant — 700 g
salt — 10 g
sunflower oil — 276 g
lamb — 400 g
onion — 80 g
baharat — 7 g
salt — 5 g
potatoes — 450 g
tomatoes — 400 g
onions — 240 g
green bell pepper — 150 g
garlic — 18 g
tomato paste — 44 g
tamarind paste — 30 g
water — 400 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 15 min (1 hr 45 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 57.3 kcal, 3.9 g protein, 2.3 g fat, 5.7 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Salt the aubergine rounds and leave them 30 minutes to weep, then pat dry.
Knead the minced lamb with the grated onion, baharat and meatball salt for 3 minutes, then roll into small flat patties about 4 cm across, one for each aubergine slice.
Heat the oil to 180°C and fry in turn: the aubergine rounds 3 minutes a side until gold, the potato rounds 4 minutes a side until half-cooked, and the meat patties 2 minutes a side until browned. Drain everything on a rack. Frying each element separately is the long part of this dish and also the reason it tastes the way it does.
Whisk the tomato paste and tamarind into the hot water until smooth. Tamarind and its cousin dried lime are the sour spine of Baghdadi cooking; without it this becomes an ordinary vegetable bake.
Heat the oven to 190°C. In a wide roasting tray, stand the fried components in overlapping rows on edge, alternating aubergine, meat patty, potato, tomato, onion ring and pepper ring, so the tray looks like a fanned deck of cards. Tuck the sliced garlic between them.
Pour the tamarind broth over so it comes a third of the way up, cover the tray tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes.
Uncover and bake 20 minutes more, until the tops have browned and the liquid has reduced to a thick, dark, sour-sweet sauce in the bottom of the tray.
Rest 10 minutes and serve straight from the tray with plain rice and flatbread.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Three-Cheese Vegetable Lasagna — Italian-American
Ciorbă de Perișoare (Sour Meatball Soup with Borș and Lovage) — Romanian
Sloppy Joes on Toasted Buns — American
Pide (Turkish Flatbread Pizza) — Turkish
Kofta-Spiced Beef and Rice Stuffed Zucchini — Middle Eastern

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.