Recipe: The Tasty Delight of Imam Bayildi

One of my favorite dishes is “Imam Bayildi,” a classic Ottoman dish traditionally cooked using Italian eggplant in Turkey and long (Asian) eggplant in Greece with plenty of olive oil. It is an integral part of both Turkish and Greek gastronomy, with variants in Lebanese and Egyptian cookery.

Literally translated from the Turkish, the name means “the priest fainted.” That, according to legend, is because the priest saw how much olive oil his wife used in making the dish, when olive oil was an expensive ingredient. Another version of the legend says it was because the dish is such a tasty delight!

(image –  Greek-Style-Imam-Bayildi-Asian Eggplant)

In Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, eggplants are poached in olive oil and some water with a stuffing of cubed tomatoes, a few strips of red pepper (capsicum), onions, and garlic. It’s then served either cold or at room temperature with a slice of lemon on the side. It is a delicious and refreshing dish, very suitable for hot summer days. It just melts in your mouth.

When I was growing up, even though we had an electric stove in our kitchen with a good-sized oven, my mother used to send me carrying a large baking tray with her imam bayildi to the local bakery for the dish to be cooked in the bakery’s brick oven. She believed the large commercial oven had even and consistent temperature.

In the version I now cook at home, no capsicum is used.

Ingredients (4 to 6 servings):

• 3 medium white or red onions
• 2 large or 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 4-5 Asian eggplants; medium-sized Italian eggplants are used in the Turkish version
• 7-9 cloves of garlic
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 6-8 tbsps. olive oil, depending on the eggplant’s size
• Sea salt and black Malabar pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Olive oil to fry the eggplants
• Chopped flat leaf parsley, divided

Method:

At each Asian eggplant, cut a slit along the length, without cutting through to the skin on the opposite side, and leave 1/2″ uncut at either end. (If using Italian eggplant, halve the eggplant and slit the meat of each half). Sprinkle the salt (this will help the moisture and bitter juice to come out) over the eggplants, and lay them on paper towels for about 15 minutes to leach out the usually bitter liquid. Thoroughly drain and pat dry the eggplants with a paper towel to get rid of the moisture.

Heat about ½ inch of olive oil in a deep-sided frying pan or a sauteuse. Place the eggplants in the oil, and shallow fry them quickly on all sides until they are softened and a light brown/purple color, for about 3-5 minutes. Pull them from the frying pan, and let them cool a bit so that they can be easily handled for the next step.

(Optional) If you have access to a wood or charcoal burning grill, lightly cook the eggplants on the grill first until the skin starts to wrinkle and then fry. This will give the eggplant a smokey taste. 

Prepare the filling. Stir the sliced onions and whole, halved, or diced garlic cloves in a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and ground black pepper to taste. Knead the mixture with your hands for the seasonings to blend well (this will also help the onions to soften). Stir in the chopped tomatoes and half the parsley, and combine well.

Lift the eggplants to a chopping board, and open up the split in the middle to create a pocket. Spoon the filling mixture into these pockets, packing it in tightly so that all of the filling is used up (if you have any left over, sprinkle it over the eggplants).

Place the stuffed eggplants side by side in a wide, heavy pan. Mix the remaining olive oil with 3/4 cup water, lemon juice, and sugar, and pour it over the eggplants.

Cover the pan with a lid, and place it over medium heat to get the oil hot and create some steam. Or you could cook the stuffed eggplants in a hot oven as my mother did. Once the cooking liquid is hot, cook the eggplants for about 45-50 minutes. Once cooked, they should be soft and tender, with only olive oil left at the bottom of the pan.

Leave the eggplants to cool in the pan for the flavors to settle. Then, carefully transfer them to a serving dish, and spoon the oil from the pan over them. Serve at room temperature or cold with a wedge of lemon on the side and the balance of the chopped parsley as a garnish.

July, August, and September are the best months for cooking this dish, but if you can find fresh eggplants during the rest of the year, do cook this delightful meal at any time. Choose eggplants with smooth, shiny skin, having no blemishes or bruises. Wrinkled skin is an indication of age, and the fruit would be very bitter. Asian eggplants have fewer seeds, thinner skin, and tend to be sweeter, tenderer, and less bitter than the Italian.