Zubereitung

1. 1

   The evening before, pick over the chickpeas, wash them and soak them overnight in a bowl with three times their volume of cold water.

2. 2

   Pour away the soaking water, rinse the chickpeas and bring them to the boil in a pot with plenty of fresh water without salt. Skim off the foam and simmer the chickpeas gently, half-covered, until almost tender, then drain.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, stir the sumac into the warm water and leave it to steep. Wash the eggplants, cut off the stem ends and cut the eggplants, skin on, into cubes of about 2.5 cm. Peel the onions; finely grate one and finely dice the other. Peel the garlic, finely chop two cloves and crush the other two.

4. 4

   In a bowl, knead the minced meat vigorously with the grated onion, ½ tsp salt and the pepper until it binds. With damp hands, shape cherry-sized balls of about 2 cm; this makes about 30.

5. 5

   Heat 4 tbsp oil in a wide, heavy pot and fry the eggplant cubes in two batches until golden brown all over, then remove them.

6. 6

   Add the remaining oil to the pot and brown the meatballs all over, shaking the pot rather than stirring so that they stay whole; remove them.

7. 7

   Fry the diced onion and chopped garlic in the pan fat until golden, then stir in the tomato paste and pepper paste and toast briefly until the paste darkens and smells fragrant.

8. 8

   Add the hot water, chickpeas, meatballs and 1 tsp salt and pour in the sumac water through a fine sieve. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, covered, over a low heat.

9. 9

   Carefully fold in the eggplant and simmer everything until the eggplant is soft but not falling apart and the chickpeas are completely tender. Cut open a meatball: it should be cooked through with no pink and reach 70 °C.

10. 10

    Whisk the yogurt with the egg and flour in a bowl until smooth and gradually stir in two ladlefuls of hot broth. Over a medium heat, stir the yogurt mixture into the stew, stirring gently and constantly, always in the same direction, and let it come to the boil once — otherwise it will curdle; then leave it to steep gently over a low heat.

11. 11

    Melt the butter or margarine in a small frying pan, add the crushed garlic cloves, the dried mint and the red pepper flakes and let them foam up only briefly without darkening. Ladle the stew into deep plates and drizzle with the hot mint and garlic fat.

12. 12

    Tip: Instead of 150 g dried chickpeas, you can use 330 g drained canned chickpeas, which only go into the pot together with the meatballs. Instead of sumac water, 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (Turkish Nar ekşisi) will make the stew tangy. Nanê sêlê — Wafer-Thin Flatbread from the Domed Griddle goes well with it. Leftovers keep in the fridge for two days and should only be reheated gently, stirring in one direction, until piping hot throughout.