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İslim kebabı is an elegant Turkish dish from traditional Ottoman cuisine, made by wrapping oval-shaped meatballs in thin slices of fried eggplant, skewering them, and serving over tomato sauce.
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per serving
Place the ground meat in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice from the grated onion and add it over the meat. Add the garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Knead all the ingredients by hand for 5-6 minutes until a uniform mixture is formed. Cover and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
From the rested mixture, take walnut-sized portions and shape them into oval (hazelnut-shaped) meatballs in your palms. You will get 12-14 meatballs in total.
Wash the eggplants and trim the stem ends. Cut them lengthwise into thin (3-4 mm) slices. Soak the slices in salted water for 10 minutes, then pat them thoroughly dry with paper towels.
Heat the frying oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the meatballs for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden. Transfer to paper towels.
In the same skillet, fry the eggplant slices for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until softened and lightly colored. Transfer to paper towels.
Place one meatball at one end of a fried eggplant slice. Roll the eggplant around the meatball to form a roll. Secure the roll in the middle with a toothpick. Attach a small slice of tomato and a piece of pepper on top with the toothpick. Prepare all the meatballs this way.
For the sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a separate skillet. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the grated tomato, salt, sugar, and warm water. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Spread the tomato sauce on a serving platter. Arrange the prepared İslim kebab rolls on top. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and serve hot.
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