This recipe came from the article, Turkish Dumplings, Deconstructed, in the, A Good Appetite column in the NY Times, by Melissa Clark, in the Fall of 2008. It was her homage to an authentic Turkish dish, manti, with her own unique spin, the inclusion of roasted eggplant into the lamb mixture. It sounded divine, so I gave it a whirl and it was a huge hit. I liked that Melissa afforded us the option of using less butter if you choose, and I found that 2 to 3 tbsp is sufficient. I also found that if one doesn't have or like eggplant, zucchini is a nice substitute, and have found that 3 zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes, salted and left to drain a bit on paper toweling (don't leave this out, otherwise you're left with roasted mush), then coated with 2 to 3 tbsp oil, then roasted as per directions, works very nicely. Oops, almost forgot. Melissa's recipe doesn't mention draining the fat from the cooked lamb, but I altered the recipe to do so, as I felt concerned about leaving it in, so I drain it.
Melissa provided the tip, "Turkish or Aleppo (Syrian) red pepper flakes are sold at specialty markets and at kalustyans.com. You may also substitute ground chili powder." She also suggested one not use crushed red pepper flakes, as they would be too spicy, but when I made this for the first time, I only had crushed red pepper flakes at hand, so I used slightly less and it was just fine