İmam bayıldı

Aubergines Stuffed with Onion and Tomato

İmam bayıldı means the imam fainted, and the story is that he did so with pleasure. The dish is a pair of aubergines slit and stuffed with onions, garlic and tomato, and cooked slowly in olive oil until they are soft and silky. It is served cold, which makes it a good dish to make a day ahead.

The first recipe salts, then shallow-fries whole striped aubergine halves, stuffs them with a kneaded mixture of onion, garlic, tomato, parsley and mint, and cooks them covered for 45 to 50 minutes in a mix of water, oil, lemon and sugar. The second roasts the halves and fills them with a cooked filling of leek, pepper, cauliflower and tomato, topped with feta.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 2 large, slim aubergines (about 600 g)
  • Fine sea salt
  • Sunflower or light olive oil, about 1 cm deep, for shallow-frying
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp dried mint
  • 60 ml olive oil, divided
  • 120 ml water
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • Black pepper
  • Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

  1. Prepare the aubergines Peel the aubergines in lengthwise stripes, leaving some skin. Halve them lengthwise and cut a deep slit down each half without cutting through the other side. Salt well and leave for 15 minutes, then rinse and pat dry thoroughly.
  2. Fry Heat 1 cm of oil in a deep frying pan. Shallow-fry the halves for 3 to 5 minutes a side until softened and lightly browned. Drain on kitchen paper.
  3. Make the filling Knead the onion with the garlic, 2 tbsp of the olive oil, the mint, 1/2 tsp salt and some pepper by hand for a minute to soften the onion. Stir in the tomatoes and parsley.
  4. Stuff and cook Stand the aubergines in a wide pan and spoon the filling into the slits. Mix the remaining olive oil with the water, lemon juice and sugar and pour round them. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 45 to 50 minutes, until very tender.
  5. Cool and serve Leave to cool in the pan, then lift on to a serving dish and spoon over the cooking juices. Serve at room temperature or chilled with lemon wedges.

Food safety

Shallow-frying: heat the oil gradually, never leave the pan unattended, and keep the aubergines dry so they do not spit.

Aubergines soak up oil. Fry them quickly in hot oil and drain well.

It is better the day after.

More Turkey recipes