Soul Spice Café: An amazing combination! Khoresh-Bademjun

Featured on Jamie Oliver's website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/foodwise/article-view.php?id=3643

I have to say this is one of my favorite dishes and Persians really knew what they were doing when they created this delicious recipe! I made it last night and the best thing is that we had leftovers for lunch today :) Persian food tastes even better a day after cooked! So here is the step by step recipe for 6 people! Preparation + cooking time = 1h

INGREDIENTS:
- 500 grams of beef cut up in small pieces (make sure you wash it before you cook it, you never know who has touched that meat!)
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of each: tumeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper (you can add more according to your taste)
- 3 dried Persian limes or if in powder form - 2 teaspoons or more if you prefer it a bit more sour (you can find them in Persian shops). If you are not able to find these, use the juice of 1 lime.
- 6 small eggplants peeled and cut into long strips of 1cm thickness
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 2 cans of whole, peeled tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:
1- Fry the eggplants and put them aside (eggplants soak a lot of oil in, when frying. So, make sure you let them rest on paper towel to take out the excess oil)

2- Brown the onions and the garlic in the same pan you previously fried the eggplants in.

3- Add the beef and the spices (salt, pepper, cinnamon, tumeric) and cook the beef until brown, then add the diced tomatoes, mix it and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes.

4- In another pan, pour some of sauce from the canned whole tomatoes, and add a layer of eggplants. Add the Persian limes and pour the beef sauce on top. Add another layer of eggplants and to finish add the whole tomatoes cut in half and the rest of the sauce on top. Sprinkle some salt and cinnamon, put the lid on and let it cook for 30-45 minutes in low heat.