Hünkar Beğendi in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it

Name: Hünkar Beğendi
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 800 g lamb shoulder, cubed; 2 onions, chopped; 3 cloves garlic; 2 tomatoes, chopped, 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 green pepper, chopped; 2 tbsp butter, salt, pepper, 1 tsp dried thyme; 300 ml water; 3 large aubergines; 40 g butter, 40 g flour, 400 ml milk; 80 g grated kaşar or mature cheddar; juice of half a lemon, nutmeg, salt

Quick answer

Hünkar beğendi is slow-cooked lamb stew served on a purée of smoked aubergine, cheese and béchamel. The name means 'the sultan liked it', and it is the best-known dish of Ottoman palace cooking. It is rich, smoky and elegant, and it appears in the UK on the menus of the more ambitious Turkish restaurants rather than at grill houses. If you see it, it is usually the best thing on the menu.

Calories and nutrition

Calories: 720
Protein: 42 g
Carbs: 30 g
Fat: 48 g
Salt: 2.0 g

Portion: One portion, about 350 g, with bread.

The béchamel and cheese purée carries most of the fat; it is a rich main and needs no starter.

Estimates for a typical portion, based on standard UK and USDA food composition data. Actual values depend on the recipe and the restaurant.

What hünkar beğendi is

The lamb is cubed shoulder, browned and stewed with onion, tomato, garlic and a little pepper for a couple of hours until it falls apart in a thick sauce. The beğendi is aubergines charred whole over a flame until the skin is black and the flesh is smoky, then mashed and folded into a béchamel made with butter, flour and milk, finished with grated kaşar cheese. The stew is served in the middle of a pool of the purée. The story places its invention at the Beylerbeyi Palace for the visit of Empress Eugénie in 1869; whatever its origin, it is the dish that Turkish chefs cook when they want to show that Turkish food is more than kebab.

What it is not

It is not a kebab, not grilled, and not spicy. The lamb should be a slow braise, and many restaurants shortcut this by using grilled lamb cubes on the purée, which is a different and lesser dish. The purée should taste primarily of smoke; a pale, bland beğendi means the aubergines were baked rather than charred. Some restaurants make it with chicken; it is acceptable but the lamb is the dish.

How to judge it

Smoke first: the purée should taste of aubergine that has been burnt over a flame. Then the lamb: tender enough to cut with a fork, in a sauce that has cooked long enough to be dark and sweet with onion. The purée should be smooth and rich but not stodgy, and the cheese should be present but not dominant. It is a main course to be eaten with bread, and a portion is substantial. It is usually one of the pricier dishes on the menu and should look like it.

Where in the UK it is done well

It appears on the menus of the more polished Turkish restaurants in central and North London and in the larger cities, often under the Ottoman or palace heading. The ranking below counts restaurants in our directory whose name signals Ottoman, palace or beğendi.

How to order it

Order it as a main, with bread rather than rice. Ask whether the lamb is braised or grilled; braised is correct. It pairs with a glass of red wine in a licensed restaurant. Skip a heavy starter; the purée is rich.

Where it's done well

UK councils with the most hünkar beğendi specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.

Restaurants near you

Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve hünkar beğendi near you.

Make it at home

Serves 4 · 150 min

Ingredients

800 g lamb shoulder, cubed
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes, chopped, 1 tbsp tomato paste
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp butter, salt, pepper, 1 tsp dried thyme
300 ml water
3 large aubergines
40 g butter, 40 g flour, 400 ml milk
80 g grated kaşar or mature cheddar
juice of half a lemon, nutmeg, salt

Method

Brown the lamb in butter in batches, then add the onion, garlic and pepper and soften. Add the tomatoes, paste, thyme, seasoning and water, cover and simmer for two hours until the lamb is very tender and the sauce thick.
Char the aubergines whole over a gas flame or under a very hot grill, turning, until the skin is blackened all over and the flesh collapses, about 15 minutes. Cool, peel, and mash the flesh with the lemon juice.
Make a béchamel: melt the butter, stir in the flour for a minute, whisk in the milk gradually and cook until thick. Fold in the aubergine and cheese, season with salt and nutmeg.
Spoon the purée onto plates, make a well, and fill with the lamb stew. Serve with bread.

The aubergine must be charred, not baked; the smoke is the dish. Under a grill takes longer than a flame; be patient until the skin is fully black.

Related dishes

Doner Kebab

Doner kebab is seasoned lamb, beef or chicken stacked on a vertical spit, roasted slowly and shaved into thin strips. In the UK it is sold two ways: the takeaway version in pitta or a wrap after 11pm, and the restaurant version served on rice, bread or with yoghurt and tomato sauce as an iskender. The two have little in common beyond the spit, and knowing which one you want is the whole trick to ordering well.

Pide

Pide is a boat-shaped flatbread with a soft, chewy base, filled with cheese, spiced minced meat, sucuk, spinach or egg and baked in a stone oven. It is often called Turkish pizza in the UK, but it is closer to a filled bread: thicker than lahmacun, longer than a pizza, and eaten sliced into strips with a squeeze of lemon. A pide salonu, a restaurant built around the pide oven, is one of the most reliable places to eat cheaply and well.