For months I was waiting to cook this dish again. As much as I love my winter roots or spring greens, I am passionate about the nightshades that come out in summer. Firm eggplants with shiny skins and ripe tomatoes bursting with sweetness. After all, the whole imam bayıldı business is about excellent summer produce.
Imam bayıldı is eggplant boats stuffed with onions, tomatoes and herbs and braised in olive oil. If there is one signature Turkish dish that has graced all the big food publications, that presides the A-list of the foods to eat in Istanbul, that everyone firmly relates to Turkey and that, for a change, none of the Turkey’s neighbors claims to be their own, it is imam bayıldı.
Like any classic recipe it has got one thousand and one variations: ask two home cooks how they makes theirs, and I guarantee you a heated debate. I have never tried two imam bayıldı that were alike. The number of variations double as the recipe travels across the borders and foreign cooks bring their understanding on the dish and replacements they think appropriate. No wonder over time I have come with my own take on imam bayıldı.
Now, I am careful with “my own takes”. I can share the tabbouleh sentiment of the Lebanese food blogger intimidated by all the tabbouleh versions created by the people who have never eaten the original. As much as I love playing with food, I feel there are traditions to respect. If you modify something beyond recognition and still call it by the original name, first and foremost you show your ignorance of the traditions that have been there long before you arrived and will stay after you go. Dishes have names and certain cooking techniques associated with them for a reason. So before venturing into any experiments I think about what makes the core of the dish.
What defines imam bayıldı? Well, the dish belongs to the zeytinyağlı, recipes of the Turkish home cooking that feature seasonal ingredients – solo and in various combinations – braised in olive oil. There are many unspoken rules about the zeytinyağlı. Unspoken because I have never heard anyone explaining them. But every time I violated one I figured: raised eyebrows after the first bite never failed to let me know.
First rule of the zeytinyağlı is of course, the olive oil. Plenty of it. In the imam bayıldı case the amount of olive oil is notorious. So notorious that it has given the dish its name: as the legend has it, imam fainted as he learned that his wife had used all the olive oil from her dowry to make these stuffed eggplant boats.
Second rule is the seasoning, or the lack of thereof: we usually season zeytinyağlı simply, not to overshadow the flavor of the seasonal ingredient meant to be the star in the dish. Whenever we make a zeytinyağlı at my cooking classes and I gather the ingredients, I see a question mark in the eyes of my students, “Is that all?” Yes, that’s all. No spice, nothing. Just olive oil, salt and well, a bit of sugar.
Yes, the third rule is sugar. Being it stuffed grape leaves or celery root braised in olive oil, we season all the zeytinyağlı with a pinch of sugar to dial up the flavor. It makes sense as much as adding salt to a sweet cookie dough; it’s all about the balance. Sugar in a savory dish helps balance out bitter or sour tastes. And I would not break the news if I say that Turks have got a sweet tooth and “a bit of sugar does not hurt” mentality.
Fourth rule is in that in the olive oil dishes we don’t use the otherwise omnipresent tomato paste, only fresh tomatoes if we talk about summer dishes. And there are no tomatoes in the winter olive dishes because we cook with the season.
While I love to indulge a well-done classic zeytinyağlı now and then and I want to respect principles according to which those dishes are made, I also wish my imam bayıldı to be lighter (no swimming in oil and as little frying as possible), to cook quicker and to contain no refined sugar. So instead of starting by frying the eggplant to get it collapse, I am halving it, brushing with oil and baking in a hot oven. I sweat the onions in a moderate quantity of olive oil and bit of pekmez, reduced grape juice used as a natural sweetener in Turkish cooking. And then I quickly finish the dish on the stovetop.
Result? Delicious imam bayıldı transformed from a rich, almost sinful, treat into a daily dish. And if we care to preserve traditions, what can be more important than letting a classic grace our table more often?
İmam Bayıldı (Stuffed Eggplant Boats)
Traditionally a cold starter, these stuffed eggplant boats could be also served warm as a light meatless main course. Pick up small thin eggplants for this dish; about 15 cm (6 inch) long eggplants work best.
Prep Time: 10 Min
Cook Time: 30 Min
Total Time: 40 Min
Serves: 4 as a starter or a side, 2 as a main
Ingredients
- 4 eggplants see the note above
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp dry mint
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Filling:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions (about 140 g each) halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes (about 140 g each) skinned and finely diced
- 1 tsp grape molasses (pekmez)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt or more to taste
- 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
- 2 tbsp finely chopped mint
- 1/2 cup water
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/390F.
2. Prepare eggplants: Trim the eggplant stem if too long leaving at least 2 cm / about 1 inch. Place a pairing knife on the spot where the stem merges with the leaves and make a circular cut, but not all the way through – you don’t want to chop off the stem! Twist the stem and the outer green part will come out revealing the white core; we go for this trouble both for the pretty looks and convenience – it is handy to grab the eggplant by the trimmed “tail” while cooking and serving. Next trim off the green leaves; work from the top not to loose your stem. Then halve each eggplant lengthwise and make crisscrossing deep cuts on each half without cutting through the skin. Whisk the olive oil, salt and dry mint and brush each eggplant halve with the mixture. Arrange the eggplant halves (cut facing up) on a baking tray and bake for 20 min, or until the eggplants soften.
3. Make filling: Meanwhile, pour the olive oil in a warm skillet and sweat the onions and garlic on the low heat until soft and golden (about 10-15 min). Then add the diced tomatoes, pekmez and salt and dial up the heat to the medium. Let the tomatoes release their juices (about 5 min). Next turn off the heat and stir in the finely chopped herbs. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
4. Assemble eggplant boats: Arrange the baked eggplant halves on a wide skillet. With a spoon press the eggplant flesh to create a nice cavity for stuffing. Distribute the filling among the eggplant boats pressing it down gently. Rinse the skillet where you cooked the filling with 1/2 cup water and pour that liquid in the pan with the eggplants. Cover the pan, bring to a boil and simmer gently on the lowest heat for about 10 minutes. If serving as a main course, plate immediately or cool down to serve as a starter.
