Beef khoresh with eggplant and tomatillo

I miss khoresh! It's been a while since we had it. So I made a deliberate trip to the market to get some vegetables today to make a beef khoresh. What I found are Chinese eggplant and tomatillo. Tomatillo looks like green tomato, but it's actually not a variety of tomatoes. It tastes in between tomatoes and gooseberries. I've learnt to use yogurt to tenderize meat. It's been very successful with chicken white meat. So I tried it out on the very lean cut of beef too. According to my husband, who is my food critic, the beef tastes really good, though the yogurt flavor is not distinctive. In fact, it's likely to have been completely covered up by the spices. Since the yogurt is merely for tenderizing, it's not important whether its taste comes out in the dish. The eggplant and the tomatillo matter more because their presence directly contribute to the complex flavor of the dish.

Recipe: Beef khoresh with Chinese eggplant and tomatillo (for 3)

Ingredients:
- 8 oz lean beef cut
- 2-4 tp plain yogurt (flavored ones will do too)
- 1 medium tomatillo, cut to 8 slices
- 2 small Chinese eggplants, coarsely cut to irregular shapes
- 1 teaspoon (tp) sugar
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1-2 tp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tp strong chili powder
- 1 tp paprika
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- dash of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon (TB) oil
- 2-4 TB water or meat stock

Procedure:
1. Cut beef into 1" cubes. Place in a bowl and mix with yogurt. Make sure that all sides of the beef is coated with a bit of yogurt. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to chill overnight. Take out of the fridge to warm to room temperature about 2 hours before cooking.
2. Broil chopped eggplants in oven at 450F until the eggplants give out a sweet aroma. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 TB oil in a non-stick pan on high heat. Add the beef to the pan and allow all sides to brown lightly. Then add turmeric, chili, garlic, cumin, sugar and salt. Mix the seasonings with the juice from cooking the beef. Cooking for a few minutes until the aroma of the spices is strong. Then add the eggplants. Mix well.
4. Transfer the mixture to a sauce pan. Add a little water or meat stock to cover up to 1/2" of the bottom of the pan. Allow to cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Do not stir, else the eggplants may disintegrate. About 15 minutes before serving time, add the paprika and tomatillo. Stir gently to make sure the paprika dissolves into the gravy, and the tomatillo is soaked. Continue cooking on low heat until serving time.
5. Serve with steamed rice.

This is such a very very tasty dish, one of our favorites!!