Imam Bayildi

Turkey

About Imam Bayildi

Imam Bayildi is a classic Turkish dish of whole eggplants stuffed with onions, garlic and tomatoes and slowly cooked in a generous amount of olive oil. The eggplants become silky soft and the filling sweet.

Its name means "the imam fainted". One popular story says a religious leader fainted with delight at how good it tasted; another says he fainted when he heard how much expensive olive oil had been used.

It belongs to the zeytinyağlı family of Turkish dishes, vegetables cooked in olive oil and served at room temperature. It is vegetarian and is eaten as a starter or light meal with bread, and is also popular in Greece and the Balkans.

Ingredients

• eggplant
• onion
• garlic
• tomato
• olive oil
• parsley
• sugar