I made this for the first time for company (why can't I stick with the tried and true when cooking for friends?) but happily, it did work pretty well, it was certainly a morish treat at our pre-film picnic at the sommerville outdoor cinema among all those shady trees. A summer delight to do just that.
I've heard this dish is probably the most famous of Middle Eastern cuisine so it shows how much I still need to travel that I'd never heard of this dish until we went to a Turkish restaurant in Subiaco one sunny day and I fell in love with what was no doubt not the best imam bayildi ever produced (judging from the mediocre quality of the other dishes we tried). It wasn't hard to win me over with this one, though - for someone with an obsession for anything involving slow-cooked onions and tomatoes, how was I not going to love a dish that also involved lashings of delicious olive oil, green capsicum, spices and of course, one of my most beloved vegetables, that great fan of olive oil, the aubergine.
Now the name, Imam Bayildi, means 'the Imam fainted' - and various stories account for the name. some say the imam swooned with delight at being served it, others that he fainted with shock at the amount of olive oil used. Whatever the reason, you are likely to have a swoony moment yourself trying this divine dish.
I consulted two recipes to make mine and was pleased with the results. I greedily took everything from both recipes and left nothing out - it's all about indulgence this dish. The books I used were one of my favourites, Arto der Haroutunian's Vegetarian Dishes from Across the Middle East and a new one Veggiestan by Sally Butcher which takes, you guessed it, vegetarian dishes from the Middle East and imagines they all come from a country called Veggiestan! A flight of fancy and it has fancy pictures to go with it, something missing in Arto's (hence me making a few of his recipes so you can get some idea and then go get your own copy!)
Imam BayildiChoose your eggplants - either
2 of the
large pear-shaped variety
or 4-6 of the baby or long,
finger-shaped varieties.
Choose fim, glossy 'pert' eggplants - ie, ripe and fresh ones.
6 T olive oil
2 onions (red or white) finely chopped
2 green peppers (capsicums) finely chopped (I had to use green and red, was ok)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3-4 ripe tomatoes
2 T tomato puree
1 t paprika
1 t allspice
1 T pekmez or lemon juice (I had no idea what pekmez was so used lemon juice)
3 T chopped flatleaf parsley
salt, pepper and brown sugar as needed to balance flavours (add only a pinch at a time as you don't want to ruin all your hard work!)
I cup olive oil (for cooking eggplants)
1/2 c - 2 1/2 c water for cooking, depending on consistency of mixture
Wash and dry the eggplants, leaving on the stalks. Score through the skin and peel away in stripes lengthways down the eggplant. Cut an incision along the length of each one, sprinkle the insides with salt and turn upside down on kitchen paper to drain for 30 minutes. This will remove any bitter juices and also make it easier to scrape out seeds later.
While they are draining prepare the ingredients for the filling: Chop the other vegetables then heat the 6 T olive oil in a large frying pan or wide saucepan. When oil is heated, add onions, green peppers and garlic and fry gently for 10 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, paprika, allspice and salt, pepper to taste. Stir well and cook for a further five minutes. Taste and, if needed, add a tiny bit of brown sugar to balance any bitterness from cooked tomatoes. Stir in half the parsley, the pekmez/lemon juice and remove from heat. (turn off element).
Rinse out eggplants, scrape out soft seed part from middle (being careful that you don't scrape too close to the walls) and with paper towels, pat the eggplants dry, inside and out. Discard seeds. If you also scraped out some flesh, this may be finely chopped and added to the tomato filling - during cooking time even, if the eggplants were drained already then.
Heat the cooking oil (yep, the whole cupful!) in a frying pan and fry the eggplants, turning a few times until the flesh begins to soften. Remember that if the oil temperature is too low they will just sit there soaking up the oil and stay uncooked. I recommend using a 'splatter guard' (looks like a flat sieve,) if you have one, to protect yourself from burns - though you will have to turn the eggplants so be careful. When eggplants have softened and the white stripes may be goldenish (about 7 minutes), remove them from heat and drain on paper towels before placing in an ovenproof dish, split sides uppermost. Choose a dish that fits the amount of eggplant you have so you have room to spread them open enough but not so much room that they only take up half the dish. Carefully prise open the slits and spoon the tomato/onion mixture into each slit - try to get as much in there as possible. If there is any remaining tomato/onion mixture, add it to dish and then pour in the boiling water (use less water if your sauce is already very watery). Lastly, pour over 3-5 T extra olive oil (that hasn't already been used for cooking). Place in the centre of an oven preheated to 200 Celsius / 400 Fahrenheit and cook for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven, let cool and then refrigerate. Serve sprinkled with remaining parsley or fresh mint and accompany with lots of mopping up bread like pita or lavash bread. They will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. The flavour does improve after 24 hours, so you can cook ahead.
Note about my photos - Yes, the version I made I didn't add all the extra water, oil and tomato sauce to the oven dish as I though it was all pretty cooked already. But I should next time, just to see if it's possible that this exceptional dish could be improved upon if I actually followed the recipe (or recipes!)
